Auto manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Wednesday said that Nashik Industrial Court by its order dated May 13, 2009 called the 10-day old tool down strike started by its employees at the Nashik plant as unlawful and baseless.

The court order also asked the agitators to withdraw strike and start their work within 48 hours.

While quoting the Nashik Industrial Court order on Wednesday, M&M said, "It is declared that the respondents, working in the complainant-company have resorted, commenced illegal and unjustified strike."

"The respondent-union workers are hereby directed to withdraw said strike within 48 hours from said declaration. They are advised to report for their work in their respective shifts at the earliest."

The workers at M&M's Nashik facility had gone on a tool down strike on May 4 in response to suspension of their Union President Madhav Dhatrak.

The company said that Madhav was suspended for intimidating the Chief Security Officer for discharging his responsibilities.

On this, Madhav Dhatrak said, "We have decided to move the High Court against the verdict of Nashik Labour Court."

M&M's Nashik facility, which makes its flagship SUV Scorpio, Bolero, Xylo and Mahindra Renault's sedan Logan, has been facing a loss of about 500 vehicles every day following the alleged strike.

To cope with the situation, M&M was believed to be considering shifting its production to other sites.

M&M's Nashik plant has an annual production capacity of 1.5 lakh units.

Shares of the company surged 0.94% to trade at Rs 515 on the BSE. The total volume of shares traded was 50, 865 at the BSE (at 12:23 p. m., Thursday).