The Supreme Court of India has ordered the state-owned Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL) to provide details of its movable and immovable properties. This comes after the Assam government stated it cannot provide further funds to the loss-making corporation, which operates 14 tea gardens in the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys.
ATCL's financial struggles began in 2002, with work coming to a standstill between 2002 and 2004 in all the 14 tea estates. Despite government efforts to revive the company in 2005, its huge liabilities, totaling Rs 144 crore in 2002, have hindered progress. The company's turnover increased from Rs 14 crore in 2005 to Rs 48 crore in 2012, but its struggles persist.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih noted the submission of Assam Chief Secretary Ravi Kota that the state has tried its best to bail out the cash strapped Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL) but has not been able to bring it out from the situation, a Press Trust of India report stated.
Kota, who appeared virtually before the court, submitted that the state cabinet has discussed the situation of ATCL and decided it will not be prudent to pump-in more funds into the loss-making enterprise.
The loss-making enterprise has already leased out eight of its 14 tea gardens a couple of years back after it failed to run these properties. Now only six gardens – Cinnamara, Sycotta, Amluckie, Bholaguri, Longai and Isabheel – are directly under the company.
The Apex court in India observed that if the state government is not willing to put in more money into the corporation, then the court will direct the selling of its 14 tea gardens to pay the dues of its employees, including the provident funds.
The top court was hearing a contempt petition for non-payment of dues to the workers engaged in these tea estates of the ATCL.
The contempt petition has been filed by the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers for payment of dues and pensioner benefits.
ATCL, which was established in 1972, is a wholly-owned Assam government public sector undertaking with 14 tea gardens that did brisk business in its heyday.
However, mismanagement and lack of proper initiatives over the years have pushed the company to the brink of closure. Work in all the gardens came to a standstill between two years in 2002, forcing the workers to look for other jobs in urban settlements. The government did try to revive the company in 2005 by providing funds. However, that was not enough due to the huge liabilities, which stood at Rs 144 crore in 2002.
The plantation area of all gardens under ATCL is 7,000 hectares with over 15,000 workers. A few years back, the company had launched a massive re-plantation drive and set a target of completing the exercise on 500 hectares of new plantation. The state government had released Rs 9 crore to carry out development work in the company-owned gardens. Another Rs 7 crore was released a couple of years ago. The re-plantation drive was a part of the revival package of the company as experts feel that 80 per cent of tea bushes in the ATCL gardens were over 80 years old and have lost their productivity.
The Assam government had also released Rs 99 crore in 2018 to clear the pending dues of the workers.
On October 21, the top court while summoning the Assam chief secretary had said: "The Government of Assam will have to seriously answer the question why there is no sincere effort made by the Government of Assam and the ATCL to pay the dues of the workmen who have worked in the tea estates owned by the state of Assam."
The top court had in 2010 directed for payment of dues to the workmen but after non-compliance of direction, a contempt petition was filed in 2012.
A committee set up by the top court in 2020 calculated the dues of workers to be around Rs 414.73 crore and around Rs 230 crore towards provident funds.
On February 7, 2023, the top court had directed payment of around Rs 650 crore towards 28,556 workers of the 25 tea gardens of Assam which include 14 run owned by the ATCL. The rest are private gardens.
Back to the recent Supreme Court hearing, the bench at the outset asked the ATCL how it was going to pay the dues as it was not disputing the liability to pay the workers.
Senior advocate Nalin Kohli, appearing for the ATCL and the Assam government, told the bench that the corporation is having a shortage of funds and it can pay the present salaries or the past ones, but it cannot be treated as a precedent and cannot be directed to pay the arrears time and again.
"We are a deficit state and do not have funds. Tomorrow, again, someone will come and urge the court to pass direction for payment of arrears," he has been quoted in the PTI report.
The bench said the state is a welfare state and it has to take care of its citizens, and it cannot say that it is obliging by making payment to its workers.
Kohli said the Tea Board India could help the ATCL by putting some funds into it.
Justice Oka, however, said the court would order the sale of the tea gardens owned by ATCL for paying the workers.
The senior advocate sought one more opportunity to take instructions and said that he would talk to the chief minister over what should be done in case of the ATCL.
Amicus curiae advocate Gaurav Agarwal said the state has to come up with some solution as the workers cannot be left stranded.
The bench said it is listing the matter for further hearing on December 9 and asked the chairman of the ATCL to furnish a list of movable and immovable properties.
In that December 9 hearing, the Supreme Court directed the Assam government to file an affidavit detailing its plan to pay the balance dues of Rs 70 crores to plantation workers employed at the estates managed by the ATCL. The Assam counsel stated that the money would be given in two annual installments. The Court scheduled a follow-up hearing for January 24, 2025, and gave the state four weeks to turn in the affidavit.
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