Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Ramel Industries Limited & Ors vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 19 July, 2013
Author: Jyotirmay Bhattacharya
Bench: Jyotirmay Bhattacharya
1
19.07.2013. W. P. No. 17020 (W) of 2013
dc.
Ramel Industries Limited & Ors.
versus
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya,
Mr. Arka Pratim Chowdhury,
Ms. Arpita Chowdhury ... For the Petitioners.
Mr. Susovan Sengupta ... For the State-Respondents.
The petitioner no.1 is a Company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The said Company claims that the said Company is basically engaged in real estate and money marketing business and is also trying to extend its business activities in various other fields such as running of hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants etc. It is further claimed by the petitioners that the petitioner no.1 has been enlisted as a Chit Fund Company by the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
In this writ petition, a complaint is made against the Registering Authority as the Registering Authority refused to accept a deed of conveyance executed by the petitioner- Company in favour of its purchaser for its registration on the strength of a Government Order issued by the Additional Secretary, Finance Department and Inspector General of Registration & commissioner of Stamp Revenue, West Bengal on 10th May, 2013 vide Memo No. 1738/IM-101/2013. The said order is set out hereunder :
2"In continuation of the previous Order no. 1650(19) dt. 06.05.2013 enclosed please find a list of 73 companies against which complaints were received for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes.
Therefore, restriction is strictly imposed on the registration of any such property, either directly or indirectly in the name of any of the said companies.
In this regard all the district registrars/R.A. Kolkata are requested to direct the registering officers under their control to refuse acceptance of presentation of any kind of documents either executed by any of the companies or on behalf of them until further orders."
On perusal of the said order, this Court finds that the said Government Order was issued to impose restriction on registration of any deed concerning transfer and/or dealing with any property either directly or indirectly in the name of any of the said 73 companies against which complaints were received for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes.
List of those 73 companies has also been submitted by Mr. Sengupta, learned advocate appearing for the State- respondents in Court today wherefrom it appears that name of the petitioner-Company viz., Ramel Industries Limited is mentioned under Serial No. 54.
Since the petitioner no.1/Company is also included in the list of those 73 Companies, this Court was hesitant to dispose of this writ petition without inviting affidavits from the parties or without ascertaining the nature of complaint 3 received against the petitioner-Company or without ascertaining as to whether the petitioner-Company is involved in indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes.
However, Mr. Sengupta submits on instruction received from his client's representative viz., Shri Ashok Bandyopadhyay, Deputy Commissioner of Stamp Revenue (Legal), West Bengal who is present in Court today that no complaint against any financial irregularity, not even any complaint for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes has yet been received by his client against the petitioner-Company.
In view of such instruction given by Mr. Bandyopadhyay, Mr. Sengupta submits that his client does not want to file any affidavit in this matter as nothing can be disclosed in the affidavit about any complaint concerning the petitioner- Company.
If that be so, then this Court does not find any justification to apply the restriction which was imposed by the Government Order dated 10th May, 2013, as referred to above, on transfer of the property of the petitioner no.1 viz., Ramel Industries Limited and/or on registration of the transfer deed to be presented by the said petitioner.
In my view, the petitioner against whom there is no complaint of any financial irregularity cannot be treated at par with the other seventy-two companies against whom allegations for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes are there.
4As such, this Court disposes of this writ petition by permitting the petitioner-Company to present the transfer deed for its registration to the Registering Authority and on such presentation being made, the Registering Authority will complete the registration of the said document by following the provisions contained in the Registration Act notwithstanding the Government Order issued on 10th May, 2013 as referred to above.
While disposing of this writ petition, this Court has not considered the respective submissions of the learned counsel of the respective parties regarding the legality of the said Government Order as, such consideration is not needed presently in view of the submission of Mr. Sengupta as recorded above.
It is, however, made clear that this order is passed only by taking note of the submission of Mr. Sengupta that no complaint has yet been received against the petitioner- Company herein concerning any financial irregularity committed by it or for its involvement for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes.
It is thus made clear that in the event any complaint which worth consideration is subsequently received against this Company for any financial irregularity or for indulging in Ponzi/MLM Schemes, then the State-respondents are free to take necessary action against the said Company in accordance with law.
The writ petition is, thus, disposed of.
5Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be furnished to the applicant as early as possible.
(JYOTIRMAY BHATTACHARYA, J.)