Telangana High Court
M/S.Srini Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. vs The State Of Telangana And Another on 4 February, 2021
Author: P.Naveen Rao
Bench: P.Naveen Rao
HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO
WRIT PETITION No.1995 of 2021
Date:04.02.2021
Between:
M/s.Srini Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.,
Rep., by its Managing Director,
Sri Tera Chinnapa Reddy S/o.T.Ram Reddy,
Aged about 55 yrs, Occu : Business,
O/o.Plot No.10, Type-C,
Road No.l8, Film Nagar, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad 500 096, Telangana State.
.....Petitioner
And
The State of Telangana,
Rep., by its Principal Secretary,
Revenue Department,
Secretariat, Hyderabad & another.
.....Respondents
The Court made the following:
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HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO
WRIT PETITION No.1995 of 2021
ORDER:
Heard. With the consent of learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the 1st respondent, the writ petition is disposed of at the admission stage.
2. M/s.Golden Forest (India) Ltd., (GFIL) formulated several schemes for raising funds from investors and mobilized huge funds from the general public and acquired large extents of land. It appears over a period of time, the Company misused the funds generated from the public and properties acquired with those funds. The investors lodged complaints with the Department of Company Affairs. On investigation, the Department of Company Affairs found GFIL violating various provisions of the Companies Act and several cases were filed in various High Courts. In the case filed before the Bombay High Court, the Bombay High Court restrained the GFIL from alienating its properties. The Punjab & Haryana High Court also passed restraint order on 17.08.2004 regarding any sales/settlements.
3. All the cases pending in various High Courts were transferred to Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed orders from time to time dealing with properties earlier owned by GFIL. In the said process on 05.09.2006, the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed detailed orders. The relevant paragraphs read as under :
"39. Insofar as the period prior to the appointment of provisional liquidator in the winding up petition in the Punjab and Haryana -3- High Court and Delhi High Court is concerned, the Bombay High Court in its order dated 23rd November, 1998 had restrained the company, its subsidiary as well as directors not to dispose of the properties of the respondent company or its subsidiaries or its directors till further orders. It would be to be Committee to make appropriate recommendations to this Court regarding the status of sales made after the restraint order passed by the Bombay High Court on 23rd November, 1998. Any application putting a claim for settlement of properties after the restraint order passed by the Bombay High Court should be made to the Committee which shall be at liberty to make appropriate recommendations to this Court for its consideration.
40. Insofar as the settlement/sales of immovable properties for the period between the appointment of provisional liquidator passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and the restraint order dated 17th August, 2004 passed by this Court are concerned, any sales/settlement made contrary to the orders passed after the appointment of Provisional Liquidator by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on 20th January, 2003 and the restraint order passed on 17th August, 2004, by this Court shall be ignored and the Committee would be at liberty to get hold of those properties by taking vacant possession thereof with the help of civil and police authorities and deal with them in accordance with the directions already given,."
4. The Hon'ble Supreme Court appointed a Committee called "Committee-Golden Forests (India) Limited" to deal with issues of the GFIL. In terms of paragraph No.40 of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, extracted above, the Committee issued notice to the petitioner on 10.11.2020 directing it to handover the property mentioned therein i.e., Acs.17.39 guntas in Sy.Nos.309, 308 and 311 of Lingojigudem Gram panchayat, Choutuppal Mandal, Nalgonda District.
5. In this writ petition, petitioner challenges the said notice. According to petitioner, it is no way concerned with GFIL and it is a bonafide purchaser of the land in issue. Therefore, it can not be compelled to handover possession of the land. According to learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner- Company is successfully running its operations and employed about 600 people. Suddenly if possession of land is taken, the company can not relocate itself to run its operations. Thus, the impugned action will result in stopping the operations of the company and in such a case it -4- would cause hardship to the management of the company, its share holders and to 600 families of employees for no fault of them. He further submits that petitioner is no way concerned with the issue pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and that it is not a party to the litigation.
6. What is contended by learned counsel for the petitioner may be true. However, as noticed from the extracted portion of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court to the Committee are very clear. Admittedly, petitioner purchased the subject land on 25.06.2003 i.e., after 20.01.2003. Therefore, the said transaction is covered by the directions issued in Paragraph No.40 of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
7. Having regard to the directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the notice issued to the petitioner can not be said as illegal nor it can be said that the Committee has exceeded its jurisdiction in directing the petitioner to handover the property. Thus, the writ petition is misconceived and is accordingly dismissed. Notwithstanding dismissal of this writ petition, it is open to the petitioner to file appropriate application in the pending case before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, if so advised and if permitted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Pending miscellaneous petitions, if any, shall stand closed.
__________________ P.NAVEEN RAO,J 4th February, 2021 Rds -5- HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No. 1995 of 2021 Date: 04.02.2021 Rds