Mumbai: On Wednesday, six hours after the Mumbai suburban district collector office sealed Cambata Building, which houses Eros Theatre and 24 other businesses, the Bombay high court directed the collector to de-seal the building by 10.30 am on January 19. The court held that though Cambata Aviation had failed to pay its employees’ salaries of up to Rs 4.45 crore, the collector had to justify attachment and sealing of the entire building, which belongs to Cambata Trust. The court also rapped the collector and questioned whether the sealing proceeding was against the petitioners seeking interim relief for de-sealing the entire premises.
On Wednesday morning, officers from the collector’s office swooped down on the Churchgate structure and began attachment and sealing process around 9.30 am. The process involved a team of around ten to fifteen officers who put seals and notices on a bank, two automated teller machines (ATMs) and other tenants. Around fifty policemen were present for the bandobast.
The action by the officers resulted in chaos and bank employees had to return home. One of the Citibank’s ATMs was sealed soon after being refilled with cash. Eros Theatre, is owned by the Cambata Trust also runs the aviation company Cambata Aviation and Bird Worldwide Flight Service. Speaking to The Asian Age an ex-employee of Cambata said that out of 2,700 employees, 1,200 were still waiting dues.
Employees of Cambata Aviation, the ground-handling agency that ceased operations in Mumbai and Delhi, had been demanding immediate payment of salary and other dues. However, after notices directing the aviation company to deposit an amount of Rs 4,45,14,633 by the district administration went unheeded a first information report was filed. In a notice sent on December 28 the collector had warned of attaching the aviation company’s property if it failed to comply within 20 days. The sealing on Wednesday was pursuant to the expiry of the notice period.
According to advocate Chirag Modi, counsel for Galaxy Aviation and others, a petition had been filed on January 16 regarding the issue seeking interim stay on the sealing and attachment procedure till the Bombay high court heard the side of the petitioners. However, the collector went ahead with the procedure thus aggrieving them and other tenants.
