At Monday's hearing, BIFR directed IDBI to submit a plan under Section 17(3) of Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985. This means the company's last revival plan submitted to the BIFR earlier this year stands rejected.

Last year, BIFR had appointed IDBI to probe Dunlop's accounts to see whether the company is really sick or not.

It is understood that Dunlop management has been given four weeks to submit their version of the revival plan to the IDBI.

However, the company refused to comment on rejection of its plea for considering the last revival plan under Section 17(2) of SICA.

Earlier, it had submitted two revival plans to the bench in late 1998 and in early 1999. Following the refusal of the BIFR to admit therevival plan under Section 17(2) of Sica, the company had moved the Appellate Authority for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction.

In early 1999, it submitted a another revival plan under Section 17(2) of Sica.

While Section 17(2) of Sica has no provision for an operating agency, Section 17(3) essentially has an outside agency scripting the revival plan of an ailing outfit.

Dunlop turned sick during the nine-month financial period to December 1997, posting a net loss of Rs 231.84 crore on a Rs 207.77 crore turnover. It had recorded a net profit of Rs 5.14 crore during the 12-month fiscal to March 31, 1997.

It declared ``temporary suspension of work'' at Sahagunj unit in West Bengal on February 7, 1998, followed by similar action at Ambattur unit in Tamil Nadu.

When contacted, Dunlop's spokesperson said that the bankers and unions ``have not understood the reasons and instead of appreciating the fact that the promoters are ready to invest Rs 26 crore immediately for reopening the units, opposed thecompany's efforts under Section 17(2) of Sica.''

She pointed out that the opposition by the bankers and the unions have ``put the entire efforts for reopening the factories on hold.'' She further noted that under the revival process under Section 17(3) of Sica is a long drawn process.

Last month, Dunlop management held several rounds of meetings with state government officials and even with chief minister Jyoti Basu. However, the state-sponsored tripartite meet was a non-starter.

The unions had demanded of payment of salaries as a pre-condition for coming to the negotiating table. Workers at the Sahagunj unit have remained unpaid since November 1997, while their counterparts at the head office and sales depot have gone without salaries for over a year now.

Recently, for reducing costs, the Dunlop management shut its depots and sales offices across the country.