IT Dept Objects to Golden Tobacco's Plan to Sell Mumbai Land

Source from:  IBN Live 08/23/2010

The Income Tax Department here has objected to cigarette-maker Golden Tobacco's (GT) plans to sell a 5.5-acre land parcel in suburban Mumbai which would have fetched the company upto Rs 100-crore. The department has initiated recovery proceedings against the company because of which it is not "competent to mortgage, charge, lease or otherwise deal with any property except with the permission of tax recovery officer," the department said in a public notice issued in newspapers today. The Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, on an appeal by the department, has also ordered to maintain status quo in the matter, the notice said. The company which has moved all its manufacturing activities out of Mumbai, had issued a tender last week inviting online bids for a 5.5-acre plot in the Marol Industrial Area, pegging reserve price at Rs 50-crore. The auction is scheduled for August 31. Realty analysts had opined that considering advantages like proximity to the international airport, the winning bid could go upto Rs 100-crore. According to reports, the company had sold a plot at suburban Vile Parle in Mumbai early this year for a whopping Rs 591-crore. GT had slipped into the red in the June quarter, registering a net loss of Rs 25.02-crore. The April-June period had also witnessed a decline in total income to Rs 23.38-crore from Rs 33.73-crore in the same period last year. Enditem