Calcutta High Court
Jessop & Company Limited vs Jcc India Pvt.Ltd on 5 June, 2013
Author: Harish Tandon
Bench: Harish Tandon
ORDER SHEET
CP No.397 of 2012
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Original Jurisdiction
IN THE MATTER OF :
JESSOP & COMPANY LIMITED
AND
JCC INDIA PVT.LTD.
BEFORE:
The Hon'ble JUSTICE HARISH TANDON
Date : 5th June, 2013.
Ms. Usha Doshi, Advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. Sannoy Das, Ms. Ruby Jaiswal, Advocates for the company.
The Court : The petitioner is a carrier and was entrusted to transport the goods from the site of the company to the various destination. Admittedly, the petitioner carried the goods from the workshop of the company to Chittaranjan Locomotive Works at Chittaranjan and submitted the bills for transportation charges in terms of the contract entered between the parties. The invoice was raised to the company but they did not pay the same. The company took a defence that the structural materials which was supposed to be returned by the transporter upon unloading the other goods had not been returned and therefore, the payment was withheld. In opposition a plea is taken that the said structurals (I Channels) have been gainfully utilised by the petitioner and therefore, no amount is payable towards the transportation charges. 2
It further appears that the said structurals have been returned to the company though according to the company at much belated stage. According to the petitioner, the said structurals were handed over to the consignee and after receiving the same, the same has been handed over to the company. In substance, the petitioner denied to have utilised and/or used the said structurals for gainful purposes. There is no iota of a piece of evidence before this Court wherefrom it could appear that those structurals have been used and/or utilised by the petitioner except the bald allegation of the company. Since the charges have not been disputed by the company and the said structurals have been returned by the petitioner, this Court, therefore, finds that there is no justifiable cause to deny the payment to the petitioner for transporting the goods from the workshop of the company to its consignee.
At this stage it has been submitted on behalf of the company that because of the several litigations which the compay is facing, the amount as claimed by the petitioner could not be paid at a time. This Court, therefore, feels that because of the stand taken by the company this winding up petition should remain permanently stayed provided the principal amount as claimed i.e. Rs.1,78,000/- is paid by the company by six equal monthly instalments together with one time compensation of Rs.10,000/-.
In default of payment of any one instalment, this petition shall be advertised once in "The Statesman" and once in "Bartaman". The advertisements should indicate that the matter will appear before Court after expiry of four 3 weeks from the date of the publications being made. Publication in the Official Gazette will stand dispensed with.
The petitioning creditor will also forward a copy of this order to the Registrar of Companies and require the Registrar to show cause before this Court when this matter shall appear at the post advertisement stage as to the steps taken by Registrar in respect of this company.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.
(HARISH TANDON, J.) pa