Shylendra Kumar, J.

This appeal under Section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 [for short, the Act] by the persons who were petitioners in Company Petition No.51 of 1996, on the file of the Company Law Board, Principal Bench, Chennai, who had presented the petition under Sections 397 and 398 of the Act seeking for the relief in respect of the acts and oppressions complained against the management and majority shareholders of M/s MSP Plantations Private Limited, Bangalore, as the petition came to be dismissed in terms of the impugned order dated 30-9-1998 and being aggrieved by the dismissal of the petition.

2. It is urged in the memorandum of appeal that the Company Law Board has not taken into consideration the relevant aspects and materials which had been placed by the appellants-petitioners before the Company Law Board; that even without any worthwhile opposition to the company petition on the part of the respondents in the petition, Company Law Board has erroneously dismissed the petition; that the board has failed in its function in not taking into account and examining the various acts of mismanagement and oppression which had been committed by the majority shareholders of the respondent-company and against which the appellant had complained of; that even without a proper intimation and notice to the appellants, they had been virtually thrown out of the company by the differential treatment meted out to them as preference shareholders, more so when, apart from the preference shareholders, the only other shareholder of the company was M/s MSP Investments Ltd., and therefore the uneven treatment meted out to the appellants-petitioners did constitute an act of oppression and the Company Law Board holding otherwise is not tenable in law. Various other grounds have also been urged in support of the appeal.

3. The appeal, which had been originally filed and numbered as MFA No.5457 of 1998 [filed on 5-12-1998], has been subsequently renumbered as Company Appeal No.12 of 2005.

4. Brief facts leading to the above appeal are that: That first respondent M/s MSP Plantations Pvt Ltd., is a company was incorporated under the provisions of the Act on 18-12-1981 as a private limited company; that the company incorporated in the year 1981 with the second and the third respondents as its initial shareholders with the established object of carrying on the business of coffee plantation and export of coffee and spices; that it did not transact any business during the initial years of formation of the company and the first appellant, who had completed his post graduation in the United States of America, was requested by the second respondent, his father, to return to India and to manage the affairs of the company; that the first appellant, on such request, returned to India and started managing the affairs of the company and began the business activity of the company and was thereafter appointed managing director of the company; that the company was being run more as a family concern, first appellant-son and the second respondent-father virtually carrying on the business of the company; that the second appellant is the wife of first appellant and both of them held equity shares of 100 numbers each, the face value of which is Rs 1,000/- in the first respondent company.

5. The authorized share capital of the first respondent company, was if the company had an authorized share capital, was Rs 50.00 lakh, comprising of 2500, 4% cumulative preference shares of Rs 1,000/- each and 2500 equity shares of Rs 1,000/- each. The promoters of the company i.e. respondents 2 and 3 had subscribed 10 equity shares each. It appears, later the second respondent had subscribed a further 250 equity shares and the first appellant was allotted 100 equity shares, the face value of which was Rs 1,000/-, as per the resolution dated 21-6-1987 and the second appellant, with whom was married in September 1987, was allotted 100 equity shares of Rs 1,000/-each as