Court attaches Hindustan Shipyard

Visakhapatnam: The principal district judge in an execution petition filed by the Essar Oil Limited ordered freezing of Hindustan Shipyard Limited accounts in the banks to the tune of Rs 204 crore and attachment of shipyard as well as the house of its CMD at Siripuram.

Giving details of the case, counsels for the Essar Oil MN Aditya and D Uma Rajya Lakshmi on Monday said the Hindustan Shipyard Limited signed a contract with the ONGC for fabrication, transportation and erection of oil platform at Ravva in East Godavari in 1995. The shipyard in turn offloaded the order to the Essar Oil Limited. Essar completed the works in 1998 and asked the ONGC to pay Rs 40 crore as HSL was not in a position to pay the contract amount.

As the amount was not paid, the Essar Oil invoked arbitration and passed three awards asking the HSL to pay the amount. The HSL refused to comply with the arbitration order and filed a petition in the district court in 2001. The court rejected the HSL plea and confirmed the arbitration decision.

The HSL then went to the High Court which gave order in its favour. The Essar Oil then moved the Supreme Court in 2015 challenging the High Court order. The Supreme Court annulled the High Court order and confirmed arbitrators’ order. The company then moved a recovery petition in the district court which gave the orders in its favour in three separate orders during the last month.

“We are checking the accounts of the HSL in all the six nationalized banks for recovery,’’ Aditya said. The district court also posted the next hearing on September 8 seeking details of the accounts and property details. When contacted, a top HSL official said they had informed the Ministry of Shipping on the attachment and freezing of accounts and awaiting instructions.

However, the trade union leaders say it was a deliberate delay on part of the two public sector units ONGC and Hindustan Shipyard.