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2014 Supreme(Raj) 630

RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT
Jaipur Bench
Official Liquidator Vs. Pawan Kumar Poddar & Anr. (Rafiq, J.)
HON'BLE MOHAMMAD RAFIQ, J.
Official Liquidator, M/s. Jaipur Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. (in Liquidation)
Versus
Pawan Kumar Poddar & Anr.
S.B. Company Petition No. 10 of 1980, decided on 24.11.2014

Advocates Appeared
G.K. Garg, Sr. Advocate with Anita Aggrawal, Gaurav Sharma, Yash Sharma, for Applicant-Official Liquidator;
R.C. Joshi, for Non-Applicants

Headnote:Companies Act, 1956, Sec. 454(5); Penal Code, Sec. 421 — Recovery of fine/penalty from the legal heirs of the defaulter after his death — Breach of statutory requirement of Sec. 454(3) — The winding up petition was filed on 15.12.1980 — Company was ordered to be wound up on 2.12.1983 — Insolvency order was passed on 17.8.1989 — Held — The order attained finality — Sentence of fine has to be recovered, regardless of whether the accused survives or not — The L.Rs. are holding his property — The L.Rs. being interested in continuing the proceedings in appeal against conviction and sentence, are liable to pay the amount of fine — Secs. 634 and 482 of the Act apply.

       Application allowed. (Paras 19, 22 to 26)

        dEiuh vf/kfu;e] 1956] /kkjk 454¼5½( n.M lafgrk] /kkjk 421 & O;frØeh dh e`R;q ds i'pkr~ mlds fof/kd okfjlksa ls tqekZuk@'kkfLr dh olwyh & /kkjk 454¼3½ dh laoS/kkfud okaNuh;rk dk mYya?ku & ifjlekiu ;kfpdk fnukad 15-12-1980 dks nk;j dh xbZ Fkh & fnukad 2-12-1983 dks dEiuh dk ifjlekiu djus dk vkns'k fn;k x;k & fnukad 17-8-1989 dks fnokyk fo"k;d vkns'k ikfjr fd;k x;k & vfHkfu/kkZfjr & vkns'k us vfUrerk vftZr dj yh Fkh & bl ckr dk /;ku j[ks fcuk tqekZus dh ltk olwy djuh gksrh gS] pkgs vfHk;qDr ftUnk gS ;k ugha & fof/kd izfrfu/khx.k mldh lEifr /kkjh gS & nks"kflf) vkSj ltk ds fo:) vihy esa dk;Zokgh tkjh j[kus esa fgrc) gksus ds dkj.k fof/kd izfrfu/khx.k tqekZus dh jkf'k dk lank; djus ds nk;h gS & vf/kfu;e dh /kkjk 634 o 482 ykxw gksrh gSA ¼in la[;k 19] 22 ls 26½

       vkosnu Lohdkj fd;kA

       

Hon'ble RAFIQ, J.— Instant application has been filed for execution and enforcement of the judgement of this Court dated 5.7.1991 rendered in a complaint under Section 454(5) of the Companies Act, 1956 by the Official Liquidator of M/s. Jaipur Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. by which his Director Ganesh Narayan Poddar was held guilty for breach of statutory requirement of Section 454(3) for not filing the statement of affairs and convicted and sentenced to pay fine @ Rs. 25 per day till such default continued. Ganesh Narayan Poddar assailed that order before the division bench of this Court. He however died during pendency of such appeal. Now in the present application, prayer has been made that the amount of fine/penalty be ordered to be recovered from his legal heirs.

2. Factual matrix of the case, bereft of unnecessary details, is that M/s. Swadeshi Poly-text Ltd., Ghaziabad filed a winding up petition on 15.12.1980 before this Court against M/s. Jaipur Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd. (for short-the company under liquidation') on the ground of its inability to pay the debts. The company was ordered to be wound up by order of this Court dated 2.12.1983. The applicant herein was appointed as the Liquidator of the said company. He thereupon sent a notice dated 9.12.1983 to all the ex-Directors of the company directing them to file statement of affairs as required under Section 454 of the Act. Two of the Directors namely; C.L. Jaipuria and Banshidhar Somani responded to the notice by asserting that they have resigned from the office of the Directors of the company. They were, therefore, not liable to file the statement of affairs. On enquiry from the office of Registrar of the Companies, applicant found that form No. 32 as required under Section 303(2) of the Act has not been filed before him. Besides, C.L. Jaipuria was shown as one of the Directors of the company in the annual return upto 30.6.1983, which was filed under Section 159 of the Act before the Registrar of the Companies on 1.9.1993. As per the applicant, both were therefore liable to be taken as Directors of the company and consequently liable to file statement of affairs. The statement of affairs in the prescribed form No. 57 was required to be filed under Section 454 of the Companies Act in duplicate by ex-Directors and officers of the company. None of the Directors filed the statement of affairs. Sub-section (3) of Section 454 mandated them to file such statement of affairs on or before 23rd December, 1983, within 21 days of the date of winding up order i.e. 2.12.1983, or if the Court for special reasons allow them to do so, within a period not exceeding three months therefrom. Since they failed to do so, they were guilty of non-compliance of provisions of sub-section (1), (2) & (3) of Section 454 of the Act.

3. The complaint was proceeded as a summons trial. Ganesh Narayan Poddar and C.L. Jaipuria appeared before the Court on 8.9.1989 and filed their affidavits by way of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. when the matter was listed before the Court on 1.12.1989, they prayed for exemption from the presence. It was given out that this being summons case, Advocate representing them may give statement their on behalf as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The statements were made on behalf of other accused by their counsels. The statement under Section 313 on behalf of accused-respondents P.D. Somani and Ajay Kumar G. Poddar were recorded as stated by their counsel. It was given out to the Court on 23.3.1990 that they did not want to adduce any evidence. Even then, when the matter was listed before the Court on 18.5.1990, time was granted to the accused respondents to produce their defence witnesses. Statements of Shri Bhopal Chand Bhandari, Chartered Accountant and Shri Sanjiv Modi, Chartered Accountant, were recorded on their behalf on 13.7.1990.

4. Finally, arguments in the aforementioned complaint case were concluded on 4.1.1991 and the judgement w


































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