Calcutta: The Calcutta bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered a slump sale of the assets of Gujarat NRE Coke in a bid to safeguard the interest of its 1,178 employees.

The decision follows a plea made by the workers before the NCLT judges to liquidate the assets as a "going concern" instead of selling it piecemeal.

The attention of the judges was drawn to the fact that three plants of the company, once the largest independent metallurgical coke producer in the country, are functional and made an operational profit of Rs 4.46 crore in October and Rs 2.12 crore in November.

Selling as a whole instead of in parts will protect jobs and fetch more value for the lenders, the workers had argued.

The order on Thursday said: "The liquidator shall try to dispose the corporate debtor company as a going concern after the publication of a notice in the newspaper with the reserve price which shall be equal to the total debt amount, including the interest. The maximum period applicable for trying the sale of the corporate debtor as a going concern will be three months from the date of the order," the NCLT said.

Sumit Binani, who was the resolution professional of the company, has now been appointed as the official liquidator.

Gujarat NRE lenders owe around Rs 4,900 crore. It would be the second Calcutta based company after Nicco Corporation to go for liquidation under the IBC.

Workers had earlier made a last-ditch effort to save the company by submitting a resolution plan a day before the stipulated time to find a resolution . However, the committee of creditors could not evaluate the proposal because of lack of time, leaving no option but to send the company for liquidation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.