At a hurriedly-called meeting, the banks told Eastern Mineral Trading Agency -- the present promoter of Bengal Paper -- that they are open to discussions. Top officials of the state government were present at the meeting, which was arranged by West Bengal Industrial Development Corp chairman Somnath Chatterjee.

Officials of Bengal Paper, makers of the once-renowned Tiger brand paper, said the matter has to be cleared from the Supreme Court. ``First, we will have to settle the matter among ourselves and then we will have to request the division bench of the Supreme Court to vacate the orders,'' they said.

On April 20, a Supreme Court division bench of justices SP Bharucha and RC Lahoti had ordered the liquidation of Bengal Paper Mill, which was being run by theUpadhyays of EMTA since 1989 when they purchased it from the Bangurs for Rs 2 crore. The deal was done under the eye of the Calcutta high court.

In 1990, a consortium of banks led by Allahabad Bank filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court asking for the repayment of their dues, which, at present, is around Rs 8 crore. The other banks were Punjab National Bank and United Bank of India.

Company sources said that representatives from all the banks were present at Tuesday's meeting. ``They said that they are open to discussions and are willing to stop the winding-up procedure,'' they said.

Earlier, the chief executive of The Bengal Paper Mill (1989) Co Ltd, Bikash Mukherjee, had told The Financial Express

that they have decided not to appeal the order.

``After the division bench's order, we have no other place in the judiciary system to appeal, except to the same bench to reconsider their verdict. We are not contemplating such a step,'' Mukherjee said.

However, a section of the workersis ready to make an appeal. Subrata Mukherjee, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc) has already advised the local union to make such a move. ``I have already asked to go ahead with the appeal,'' he said.

Leaders of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) were not available for comment.

Mukherjee, however, said that he has told his colleagues in the unit to go along with their counterparts in Citu. ``I have told them that if it is possible, they must talk with the Citu leaders and take them into the move,'' he said.

In the meantime, on April 16, the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) approved a Rs 24-crore revival package for the unit. The Upadhyays were supposed to bring in the funds and Canara Bank was scheduled to chip in with need-based working capital.