The court has the power to give specific directions with respect to advertisement of a petition for winding up and dispense with publication in the Gazette.

( 1 ) THIS appeal is directed against the order of the learned company judge dated August 16, 1982, in Company Petition No. 7 of 1982;

( 2 ) THE petition giving rise to the appeal was presented by the respondent creditor against the appellant on May 21, 1982, under Section 439 (1) of the Companies Act, 1956, for the winding up of the company. Learned company judge directed notice to issue. In compliance with the order dated May 21, 1982, notice was issued to the company and also to the directors for August 16, 1982, under registered cover. The office reported that acknowledgments had not returned nor were the notices received back undelivered. Learned company judge thereupon passed the impugned order on August 16, 1982, which reads :

"service held sufficient on the respondent company under Chapter VIII, Rule 12 of the Rules of the Court. The petition for winding up shall be advertised in the newspaper, Hindustan Times, published from New Delhi and Nav Bharat Times, also published from New Delhi, which is in Hindi. The petitioner shall get three advertisements made within a month. An affidavit along with the newspapers may be filed by the petitioner within a period of six weeks from today. List the case immediately after the expiry of six weeks. "

The petition was accordingly advertised in the Hindustan Times and Nav Bharat Times, Delhi, on September 8, 1982. The appellants counsel who had put in appearance on August 17, 1982, applied on September 9, 1912, for the stay of the operation of the order dated August 16, 1982. Since the advertisement had come out already, this application was rejected on September 13, 1982, being infructuous.

( 3 ) SRI Bharatji Agrawal, learned counsel for the appellant, contends that advertisement could not issue without affording opportunity to the appellant to oppose the same. It is urged also that notice issued under order dated May 21, 1982, was not served upon all the directors of the appellant company and that the advertisement is defective since it was not made in the Official gazette. All these contentions were countered by the respondents learned counsel, Sri Sudhir chandra.

( 4 ) A reference may at the outset be made to relevant provisions of Part III of the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959, which relates to "winding up" petitions. Rules 96 and 99 provide :

"96. Admission of petition and directions as to advertisement.--Upon the filing of the petition, it shall be posted before the judge in Chambers for admission of the petition and fixing a date for the hearing thereof and for directions as to the advertisements to be published and the persons, if any, upon whom copies of the petition are to be served. The judge may, if he thinks fit, direct notice to be given to the company before giving directions as to the advertisement of the petition. "

"99. Advertisement of petition.--Subject to any directions of the court, the petition shall be advertised within the time and in the manner provided by Rule 24 of these Rules. The advertisement shall be in Form No. 48. "

( 5 ) RULES 24 and 26, which appear in Part-I (General) of these Rules, read as under:

"24. Advertisement of petition.-- (1) Where any petition is required to be advertised, it shall, unless the judge otherwise orders, or these Rules otherwise provide, be advertised not less than fourteen days before the date fixed for hearing, in one issue of the Official Gazette of the State or the Union Territory concerned, and in one issue each of a daily newspaper in the English language and a daily newspaper in the regional language circulating in the State or the Union territory concerned, as may be fixed by the judge. "

"26. Service of petition.--Every petition shall be served on the respondent, if any, named in the petition and on such other persons as the Act or these Rules may require or as the judge or the registrar may direct. Unless otherwise ordered, a copy of the petition shall be served along with the notice of the petition. "