The union has demanded that the hearing on the revival package be reverted back to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The case is now being heard by the Delhi high court which had directed the operating agency, the Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), to evaluate the company's property at Worli in central Mumbai.

The company's revival plan hinges on the sale proceeds of the Worli property. In line with the Delhi high court's directive, ICICI appointed SR Batliboi and Housing Development Finance Corporation to assess the property.

The price of the property, which was originally fixed at Rs 91.54 crore, was revised to Rs 96 crore when the union objected, saying that it was being undervalued. However, after the fall in real estate prices in Mumbai, the company failed to find a buyer for the property and has reduced it to Rs 43 crore, in line with the Batliboi recommendations. The Rs 139.82-crore revival package, which was based on the expectation that the Worli property would fetch Rs 91.54 crore, had to be scaled down to Rs 104 crore.

The Rs 12-crore voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), which was aimed at 1,300 employees including 810 from two units at Calcutta, 450 from Worli and 40 from Cochin, has been reduced to Rs 9.50 crore.

The Metal Box Workers' Union pointed out that the employees of unit number one in Calcutta have been `deprived of the VRS.' It also opposed the proposal of settling the VRS package in three installments against the two installments proposed earlier.

The gratuity payment has also been slashed to Rs 4 crore, from Rs 5 crore. In a letter to ICICI, the union complained that the computation of gratuity has not been done in accordance with the amended Gratuity Act.

The letter noted that the gratuity calculation is not based on the actual number of retired employees of the company and the funds earmarked for the purpose are insufficient to pay the dues.

Provident fund cheque bounces again

A Rs 1.03-lakh provident fund cheque drawn by Metal Box India Ltd has been dishonoured on grounds of `insufficient funds.' This is the third time in the last seven months that provident fund cheques drawn by the company have been dishonoured.

Biswanath Ghosh, an employee of Metal Box, was sent a cheque of Rs 1,03,159.81 dated July 27, 1998, towards settlement of his provident fund dues. The cheque was drawn on Corporation Bank, Dharmatalla branch in Calcutta.

Ghosh deposited the cheque in State Bank of India, Behala branch. It was returned due to insufficient funds in the company's account with Corporation Bank. Advocate Utpal Chatterjee has served a legal notice to the company directing it to settle the payment.