Both the company spokesperson and chief executive officer YC Lumba were unavailable for comment on the apex court's rejection.

United Bank of India, one of the creditor-bankers to the ailing tyre-maker, had filed an application late last year against a ruling of a quasi-judicial body which allowed the company to sell its assets for funding its revival. In September 1998, the Appellate Authority for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction had allowed Dunlop to sell its unencumbered assets identified as non-performing.

Earlier, justices BN Kripal and SR Babu had restrained the company from alienating its assets, and had also directed Dunlop not to incur any debts except for making statutory payments.

Sources said the bench of the apex court made several critical comments in the open courtat the August 16 hearing while turning down Dunlop's plea for vacating the stay. The bench noted that there would be no change in the orders, and it will be heard again after three weeks.

It is understood that the Dunlop management told the apex court that the creditors and managerial staff have to be paid, for which, vacating the stay on the sale of assets is necessary.

Meanwhile, the company was unable to press its logic for submitting a revival plan to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction under Section 17(2) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act (Sica), 1985.

At a hearing earlier this month, the quasi-judicial body had appointed the Industrial Development Bank of India as the operating agency to coin the revival plan and submit it within eight weeks under Section 17(3) of Sica.

The Dunlop management has also been given a chance to submit a revival plan to IDBI within four weeks.