Harrisons’ commitment is to Stock Exchange, High Court told

It was the Bombay Stock Exchange whom the plantation company Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) first informed about its amalgamation or merger of the companies even before informing the same to the Kerala High Court, the state government on Friday submitted.

The state submitted that the High Court Bench had earlier directed the company not to alienate any part of the property involved in the case without the prior permission of the court till the disposition of the cases pending before the court.

The bench comprising M Sasidharan Nambiar and P Bhavadasan also held on August 13 that, any amalgamation or merger could only be subject to the final orders of the court.

 But a meeting was convened by the HML on August 17 and they arrived at a decision on the composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation among Harrison Malayalam Ltd and Enchanting Plantations Ltd and the Malayalam Plantations Ltd and Harmony Plantations Ltd.

The move of the company was vitiated by suppression of material facts and against public interest, the state said. Special government pleader Susheela R Bhatt sought time to file a detailed affidavit with intervention application in this regard and Justice K Vinod Chandran granted time.