The appointment of a Court Receiver is a matter of the Court's discretion to protect and preserve the property during the pendency of the suit.

P.C.

The present suit is filed by the Plaintiff for a declaration that the Plaintiff owns the suit flat and for a decree of possession and permanent injunction restraining Defendant No.1 from transferring, selling, alienating, encumbering and / or creating third party rights in respect of the same. Defendant No.1 is an ex-employee of the Plaintiff and presently an accused in a case registered by the Economic Offences Wing, Crime Branch, Mumbai (EOW) for cheating the Plaintiff and misappropriating its funds. It is the case of the Plaintiff that the suit flat has been purchased by Defendant No.1 from out of the misappropriated funds of the Plaintiff. The present Notice of Motion is taken out for appointment of Court Receiver in respect of the suit flat.

2. The Defendants have inter alia objected to the maintainability of the suit on the ground of limitation. A preliminary issue will have to be accordingly framed under Section 9A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The following issue is framed as a preliminary issue :

“ Whether the suit is barred by the law of limitation? ”

3. The Plaintiff applies for interim reliefs, as claimed in the Notice of Motion, pending determination of the preliminary issue, under Sub-section (2) of Section 9A. The following order considers that application.

4. The case of the Plaintiff may be briefly outlined as follows :

(i) The Plaintiff, along with its group company, Haldyn Corporation Limited (formerly known as Haldyn Glass Limited), is engaged in the business of manufacture of glass containers and packing materials at its factory located in Gujarat;

(ii) In or about February 1990, Defendant No.1 joined Haldyn Corporation Limited and was transferred to the Plaintiff company in July 2005. Defendant No.1 held several important positions in Haldyn Corporation and the Plaintiff company till termination of her employment on 23 March 2012;

(iii) Having regard to the long association of Defendant No.1 with the group and the trust reposed by the Executive Chairman of the Plaintiff in Defendant No.1, the Plaintiff authorized Defendant No.1 along with two others (who are co-accused with Defendant No.1 in the criminal case filed by EOW) to operate the bank accounts of the Plaintiff inter alia for handling sales and purchases of the Plaintiff;

(iv) On or about 28 February 2008, Defendant No.1, by misappropriating the funds of the Plaintiff purchased the suit property, namely, Flat No.B-1701, 17th floor, Mahindra Eminente, Veronica Building, S.V. Road, Goregaon (West) in Mumbai. Defendant No.1 inter alia made unauthorized payments aggregating to Rs.21,44,635/- directly from the bank accounts of the Plaintiff in breach of the trust and authority reposed in, and delegated to, her. Defendant No.1 also paid a sum of Rs.32,76,984/- directly from the bank accounts of the Plaintiff for carrying out interior works in the suit flat;

(v) The misappropriation of funds and unauthorized acquisition of the suit flat came to light after the present Managing Director of the Plaintiff company, appointed on 1 June 2011, caused a closer look at the financial affairs of the Plaintiff. A special auditor appointed to examine the accounts of the Plaintiff discovered large sums of money paid by cheques as well as through RTGS to various fictitious and bogus entities, gross irregularities in purchases and expenses on behalf of the Plaintiff, issuance of several cheques to third parties without any authorization or correspondence from such parties with the Plaintiff and issuance of several cheques by Defendant No.1 to herself and to her relatives without any authorization from either the board or any other authority of the Plaintiff company. After detailed scrutiny, it was found that between April 2007 and November 2011, Defendant No.1 in concert with the co-accused had siphoned off and misappropriated funds of more than Rs.68 crores and amassed large number of assets worth crores of rupees out of such funds;

(vi) In or about