Calcutta High Court
The Gourepore Company Limited (In ... vs Carnation Distributors Pvt. Ltd on 19 July, 2017
Author: Sanjib Banerjee
Bench: Sanjib Banerjee, Siddhartha Chattopadhyay
OD-2 & 3
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Civil Appellate Jurisdiction
Original Side
APO 160 of 2017
ACO 37 of 2017
in
CA 107 of 2016
CP 355 of 1997
OCO 6 of 2017
In the matter of :-
THE GOUREPORE COMPANY LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION)
And
CARNATION DISTRIBUTORS PVT. LTD.
Vs.
THE OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR & ANR.
&
ACO 11 of 2015
APO 264 of 2017
in
CP 355 of 1997
In the matter of :-
DOLPHIN VINTRADE PVT. LTD. & ANR.
Vs.
THE OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR & ANR.
BEFORE:
The Hon'ble JUSTICE SANJIB BANERJEE
And The Hon'ble JUSTICE SIDDHARTHA CHATTOPADHYAY Date : July 19, 2017.
Ms. Manju Agarwal, Advocate appears.
Mr. B. Manot, Advocate appears.
Mr. Abhrajit Mitra, Sr. Advocate appears.
Mr. Jishnu Chowdhury, Advocate appears.
Mr. S.K. Kundu, Advocate appears.
Mr. Debrup Bhattacharya, Advocate appears.
Mr. P.K. Tulsyan, Advocate appears.
2Mr. Debasish Kundu, Sr. Advocate appears.
Mr. Deepnath Roy Chowdhury, Advocate appears.
Ms. Ayushi Kundu, Advocate appears.
Mrs. Ruma Sikdar, Advocate appears for Official Liquidator.
The Court :- This matter pertains to a company which was wound up by an order dated November 26, 1997. The appeal arises out of an order passed on a scheme propounded by some creditors to take over the assets of the company in liquidation.
Before the merits of the appeal can be gone into, it is necessary to seek a report from the Official Liquidator as to the steps taken by the Official Liquidator to complete the liquidation proceedings. Ordinarily, upon a company going into liquidation, the Official Liquidator is obliged to immediately take possession of its assets and records, invite claims from its creditors, settle such claims and seek directions from the Company Court for payment to the creditors. In addition, the Official Liquidator is duty bound to look into the affairs of the company, at least for the period immediately preceding its liquidation, and have the accounts audited to ascertain whether misfeasance proceedings should be commenced.
Since it does not appear that any claims have yet been invited by the Official Liquidator nearly 20 years after the company went into liquidation, the Official Liquidator is directed to file a report by the time the matter appears next on July 31, 2017. The report should be filed by way of an affidavit in the form of a list of dates with an explanation at the end to justify why appropriate steps could not be taken in this matter.
This is not the first matter in which the conduct of the office of the Official Liquidator has been found wanting. The Official Liquidator's report should be vetted by the Regional Director, Ministry of Company Affairs prior to it being filed in this Court. 3 The possible laches on the part of the erstwhile officers who donned the post of the Official Liquidator must be detailed in the report.
Urgent certified website copies of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.
(SANJIB BANERJEE, J.) (SIDDHARTHA CHATTOPADHYAY, J.) sg.