'Wind up Mysore Lamp'

The High Court on Monday passed orders to wind up Mysore Lamp Works Limited. Justice Ram Mohan Reddy passed orders following the recommendations by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) and Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR) to wind up the company as it had incurred loss of nearly Rs 90 crore from 1993 to 2002.

The State government in 2002 has ordered closure of MLWL following the recommendation of BIFR and AAIFR. The company then had around 1,600 employees on its roll, which was subsequently reduced to 100.

MLWL started to incur loss when it hired more number of employees than required and had outsourced the manufacturing of bulbs to another company. The Board of Directors of MLWL referred the matter to BIFR and subsequently to AAIFR which recommended to wind up the company.

The Mysore Lamp Staff and Employees’ Union also had challenged the closure order before the court, which was allowed by a single judge in 2012. State government had filed an appeal against this order before a division bench which is still pending.