No bidders for Paonta Sahib firm’s assets

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 29

The State Taxes and Excise Department’s (STED) hopes of recovering dues from Paonta Sahib-based Indian Technomac Company Limited in Sirmaur district received another blow as no bidder came forward to buy its movable and immovable assets in the second auction held here on Tuesday evening. The first auction was held in September 2019.

The assets are 189.01 bigha land, part of the factory premises at Jagatpur. Another piece of land at Rampur Majri and Bharapur, measuring 76.13 bighas, was priced at Rs 30.66 crore while the building and sheds were pegged at Rs 41.43 crore.

Reserve price of Rs 1.21 crore was fixed for its fleet of vehicles. Though a bidder offered Rs 60 lakh but since it was only a fraction of the reserve price, his offer was not accepted. All immovable assets, like plant and machinery, were priced at Rs 86.71 crore.

GD Thakur, Joint Commissioner, STED, said, “No bidder came forward to bid for the movable and immovable assets of ITCL. Though a bidder did elicit interest in buying vehicles at Rs 60 lakh, but since it was much less than the reserve price, his offer could not be accepted.”

“The assets would be re-evaluated as the earlier assessment was done in March 2020 and much has changed since then. Owing to the pandemic, the process to auction the company’s assets could not be completed earlier,” he said.

“The value of 265 bigha land was assessed at Rs 3,180 per sq m but it has now fallen to Rs 669 per sq m and this failed to fetch buyers,” the Joint Commissioner said.

The officials have now begun the process to invite expression of interest where technical and financial bids would be invited and self-evaluation would be undertaken by those filing bids.

The assets of the company had been attached by the STED under the HP Land Revenue Act as the firm had failed to pay its pending taxes. The company was involved in a multi-crore embezzlement.

The Economic Intelligence Unit of the STED had detected the fraud on February 18, 2014, as a huge mismatch was found in the return filed by the company and the VAT-26-A declarations. The company was manufacturing steel and raw material, ferro alloys and steel ingots and it had become liable to pay tax from January 2008.

The department had suffered tax evasion worth Rs 2,175.51 crore, various banks were defaulted to the tune of Rs 2,167 crore and the I-T Department lost Rs 750 crore. 

Property details

A reserve price of Rs308.8 crore was fixed for various assets, comprising 189.01 bighas, part of the factory premises at Jagatpur, a piece of land at Rampur Majri and Bharapur, measuring 76.13 bighas, a building and sheds

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