S. DASARADHA RAMA REDDI, J.

( 1 ) THIS is a petition filed by the managing director and former directors of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (a Government of India undertaking) under section 633 (2) of the Companies Act, 1956 (for short, "the Act"), for relieving them from liability, if any, on the ground that they have acted honestly and reasonably in depositing the surplus funds of the company in SBI Capital Markets Ltd. , and in ANZ Grindlays Bank. In the petition they state that the Registrar of Companies issued a show-cause notice to the company on 3/05/1995, under sections 49, 211, 292, 292 (1) (d) and 292 (3) of the Companies Act, 1956, alleging that the meeting of the board of directors held on 20/07/1989, authorised the managing director to deal with the surplus funds without specifying the total amount up to which they can be invested and the nature of investments, thus violating section 292 (3 ). It is also alleged that they contravened section 292 (1) (d) in making investments in non-banking institutions like SBI Capital Markets Ltd. , amounting to Rs. 735 lakhs and Rs. 1,965 lakhs in the years 1990-91 and 1991-92 respectively and Rs. 310. 55 lakhs with ANZ Grindlays Bank, a f

Click Here to Read the rest of this document