NCLT admits plea against Sirpur Paper, Nizam Deccan

HYDERABAD: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted petitions to initiate insolvency proceedings against two Telangana-based companies — Sirpur Paper Mills and Nizam Deccan Sugars. The tribunal has appointed interim resolution professionals (IRP) to explore options to turn around the companies, failing which their assets will be liquidated.

While one of the operational creditors of Sirpur Paper moved the NCLT seeking to initiate insolvency process, Nizam Deccan Sugars’ management approached the tribunal on its own, having already made reference to BIFR. NCLT has appointed practising company secretary R Ramakrishna Gupta as the IRP for Nizam Deccan Sugars, which owes more than `280 crore to its lenders.

In the case of Sirpur Paper, the tribunal observed that it failed to pay outstanding amounts to creditors and advised the company to make its own efforts to revive it with the help of IRP Mahadev Tirunagari. The NCLT orders come amid efforts by the Telangana government to revive the two companies.

“Certain creditors have approached NCLT to get their dues settled,” state industries minister KT Rama Rao told ET. “We can still go ahead with our efforts by impleading ourselves and getting their (creditors) permission to go ahead with the process.”

The state government had held talks with lenders as well as prospective investors in the two companies. Rao had led delegations to meet the IDBI Bank chairman as well as Kolkata-based Bangurs to see if the promoters of West Coast Paper Mills can help revive Sirpur Paper, according to government statements.