JUDGMENT - Dr. CHANDRACHUD D.Y., J.:---These company applications have been taken out by several secured creditors who assert their right to be heard at the stage of admission of the Company Petition for winding up. The right of the secured creditors to be heard at the stage of admission is questioned by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited who is the petitioner before the Court in the Company Petition.

2.In so far as the legal position is concerned, section 557 of the Companies Act, 1956 provides in Clause (a) of sub-section (1) that in all matters relating to the winding up of a company, the Court may, inter alia, have regard to the wishes of creditors or contributories of the company, as proved to it by any sufficient evidence. The words "relating to the winding up of a company", used in sub-section (1) of section 557 are broad enough to comprehend within its purview the stages of admission and of the final hearing of a company petition for winding up. Therefore, as a matter of statutory interpretation, the right of the creditors to appear and be heard in all matters relating to the winding up of a company is recognised by law. That right to appear and be heard comprehends the st

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