The union is unlikely to stretch this issue any further through legal means, and is keen to talk, work out a compensation and close the matter, said two people aware of the ongoing discussions.
“We will be talking to the company and the government. Beyond this, I can’t comment any further,” GMEU president Sandeep Bhegade said. The Bombay High Court order paves a clear path for Hyundai Motor India to conclude the asset purchase agreement with GM and make fresh investment in the plant at Talegaon in Pune. It is also likely to draw curtains on the five-year-old legal battle of the Detroit-based firm with the workers’ union in India.
Hyundai will invest ₹7,000 crore in the Talegaon facility, Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra said in a post on microblogging site X on Saturday. A Hyundai Motor India spokesperson declined to comment.
Fadnavis, in the post, said he met Hyundai Motor India chief executive Unsoo Kim, executive director JW Ryu and senior executives, who apprised him of the company’s investment plan in Talegaon. A memorandum of understanding between Hyundai and the Maharashtra government would be signed in Davos later this week, he wrote.
On January 9, the Bombay High Court upheld the order of the Pune Industrial Court and accepted General Motors’ closure application for the Talegaon plant.In his 43-page order, Justice Milind Jadhav observed that if a company approaches the court for closure of its establishment on the ground of accumulated losses as per the law, the possibility of unemployment of the workers can’t be a ground to compel the company to run its business and refuse closure. “The accumulated losses in the present case are substantial. They pan out over almost a decade prior to the closure announced by the company. What is significant to be noted in the present case is that the company has suffered significant losses over the past 28 years and at the end of FY22, the accumulated losses are ₹9,656.8 crore,” the court observed.The union had filed an application before the industrial court seeking a restraining order against GM from creating any third-party rights in favour of Hyundai Motor in the Talegaon plant. The tribunal rejected this on March 8, 2023. Subsequently, an award was passed in the reference, permitting the closure of the company with effect from April 30, 2021. The union challenged this in the high court through a writ petition which has now been dismissed.