Justice Dipankar Dutta of the high court, ruling on a petition moved by Tata Motors on Wednesday, said that advocates Aurobindo Chatterjee, Sahasrangshu Bhattacharya and Biswarup Bhattacharya have to be escorted into the Uttarpara factory within the next week to help Tata Motors recover the dyes that belong to it.

HM has declared suspension of work at the Uttarpara plant on April 11 following a month-long blockade and agitation by an unregistered union backed by the Communist Party of India. Tata Motors felt the pinch since HM had been making parts for its trucks using dyes supplied by it.

Although the high court, acting on a petition by HM, had earlier ordered the police and administration at Uttarpara to ensure free entry and exit, the police had not been able to act, as the agitators blocking the gates were women and children.

Justice Dutta, who is also hearing the HM petition, had issued a contempt rule against the director general of the state’s police, and other police officials for failing to comply with its orders.

Tata Motors had told the court that it did not want to get involved in the battle between HM and its unions but just wanted to recover its dyes and components since these cannot be made at short notice by any other manufacturer.

Tata Motors had said it would take at least 12 months to make the dyes now locked up in the HM factory. HM had said that it was helpless since the situation was outside its control. The state had pleaded that it could not take strong action since women and children were involved in the agitation. HM has so far not turned up at the tripartite talks held to resolve the dispute, since its senior executives were tending to a colleague who was seriously injured when agitators attacked management staff the day before the suspension of work.