JUDGMENT

Mohd Ghazali Yusoff JCA:

[1] The petitioners (the respondents in this appeal) presented a winding-up petition on 21 May 2001 to wind up Tan Chong Consolidated Sdn Bhd (the 9th respondent in the petition and the 9th appellant in this appeal and hereafter referred to as "the company") on the "just and equitable" ground, ie, s 218(1)(i) of the Companies Act 1965 ("the Act") . Both parties are members of the Tan Chong family and are embroiled in a protracted family feud. We will hereafter refer to the parties as they were in the petition, viz , the appellants here will be referred to as the respondents and the respondents here will be referred to as the petitioners.

[2] The petition has yet to be heard by the High Court due to a flurry of interlocutory applications filed by the parties and appeals to this Court that followed as a consequence of those applications. Three striking out applications were filed by the respondents. We will only refer to the 1st and 2nd striking out applications. The 2nd striking out application is the subject-matter of this appeal.

The 1st Striking Out Application

[3] About four months after the presentation of the petition, the respondents filed their