The judgment establishes the power of the court to set aside fraudulent transactions and issue injunctions to protect the interests of creditors and contributories. It also highlights the importance of criminal prosecution in cases of fraudulent activities.

1. These applications are relating to the various lands situated in Medak District, Andhra Pradesh stated to belong to the assets of the company, namely Maxworth Orchards India Limited (for brevity, "the Company"). The said company, against which Company Petition in C.P.No.57 of 1998 is filed for winding up on 24.2.1998, was incorporated with the main object of acquiring by purchase, lease, concession, grant, licence or otherwise lands and cultivate, grow, produce or deal in any plantation, agricultural crops, vegetables, fruits and fruit products, trees of all kinds and own, manage and sell the same both in India and abroad; selling land with or without trees, plants, agricultural, floricultural and horticultural produce in all its forms and selling trees, plants, agricultural, horticultural, floricultural produce with or without lands, fell, harvest and remove partially or fully and market the same either in wholesale or retail in India or abroad; assisting any person in procuring land and rendering all services as lessees, managers, agents, consultants and advisors and to develop them to make suitable for cultivation of agricultural crops, plantations, forestry, horticultural and floricultural and to render services to any person in procuring finance from banks, financial institutions, provide all types of management services for developing the land and operating farms; and acting as an export house for all kinds of produce, including agricultural, horticultural and floricultural, dairy, poultry and farm products, including food grains, cereals, seeds, oil, oil seeds, plant, flowers, vegetables, fruits and edible oils, meat, fish, eggs and food and food products and preparation of any nature.

2. The company is stated to have brought during the course of its business within its possession approximately 20000 Acres of land and thousands of customers have invested in the plantations and they in turn have been given piece of land and the company undertook to maintain the land by entering into separate maintenance agreements with the customers.

3. The petitioner in C.P.No.57 of 1998, M/s.EPC Industries Limited, Mumbai, with whom the company is stated to have entered into an agreement for supply of Drip Irrigation System and which is stated to have sold the pipes to the company, raised a bill for ` 2,22,96,465.54, out of which ` 1,70,93,353.60 is stated to have been paid and there is a balance amount of ` 52,01,910.26 payable and when the petitioner in C.P.No.57 of 1998 issued a statutory notice on 2.12.1997, the letter came to be returned as the company is stated to have closed its registered office at Karumuthu Centre, Chennai. It was in those circumstances, the above company petition came to be filed for winding up.

4. Pending admission of the said company petition, Mr.K.Alagiriswami, learned Senior Counsel was appointed as an Administrator of the company on 12.2.2001 and subsequently, by an order dated 6.2.2006 passed in C.A.No.353 of 1998, he came to be appointed as a Provisional Liquidator.

5. In the meantime, the company petition which was filed on 24.2.1998 came to be admitted by this Court on 14.2.2003 with a direction to effect publication in "India Today" and "Makkal Kural", while dispensing with gazette notification. However, the Official Liquidator was not appointed as Provisional Liquidator and the assets of the company were not taken over by the Official Liquidator.

6. Originally, even after filing of the company petition in the year 1998 and when it was not admitted, the company was represented by a counsel and during that time a scheme of revival by the unsecured creditors came to be filed before this Court for approval in C.A.No.63 of 2001 and it was in that application the Administrator came to be appointed on 12.2.2001 and after the Administrator took charge, he has been overseeing the functions of the Board of Directors of the company and has been taking steps to protect the interest of variou