Indore: High Court orders reassessment of Hukamchand Mills land

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): With rejecting the evaluation done by Debt Recovery Tribunal, Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed the DRTS to do revaluation of 42.49 acres of Hukamchand Mills land in Indore.

The court said that the process of evaluation will involve the representatives of workers, officers of the Indore Municipal Corporation, representatives of the liquidator, officers of the DRT and two evaluators. The evaluation process has to be completed on November 9 and a report submitted in the High Court. The next hearing in the matter has been set for November 22.

Hukamchand Mill was closed on December 12, 1991. Since then, six thousand mill workers and their relatives are waiting for their dues and compensation. In 2007, the court had fixed the compensation of workers at Rs 229 crore. Compensation is to be paid by selling the land of the mill, but despite issuing tenders many a times, the land could be sold till date.

In 2016, the DRT had pegged the reserve price of the mill’s land at Rs 400 crore, but, in the recently floated tender, the price was kept at only Rs 385 crore.

After changing the land use from industrial to residential and commercial, it was expected that the land would be sold easily. But the process got stuck as mill workers took objection to the reduced price pegged by the DRT.

Mills workers counsel Dheeraj Panwar said that the court on Tuesday set aside the valuation of the land done earlier by the DRT and asked for a fresh assessment.

“The court has said that the DRT should do the process of revaluation on November 9,” he added.