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2021 (8) TMI 165 - AT - Insolvency and BankruptcyInitiation of CIRP - petition was dismissed on the ground that the Respondent is not a body corporate - existence of debt and default or not - best case claimed by the Appellant is that the Respondents are Societies registered under the 1860 Act which after coming into force of A.P. Act under Section 18 read with Section 32 of the A.P. Act should be deemed to be a ‘body corporate’ under the Special Act. HELD THAT:- Section 3(7) defines “corporate person” and even if this definition is considered, the Respondents are not Companies defined in clause 2(20) of the Companies Act, 2013 or “limited liability partnership” as defined under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 or any other person incorporated with limited liability under any law for the time being in force. Even if the Appellant was to say that the Respondents should be treated as body corporate under Section 18 of the A.P. Act, nothing is shown that Respondents Societies are persons “incorporated” or that the incorporation is with “limited liability” - reading Section 2 which prescribes the entities and individuals to which the ‘I& B Code’ applies when considered with definition of ‘corporate person’ under Section 3(7) of the ‘I&B Code’, the Respondents i.e. Societies cannot be said to be ‘corporate persons’ to whom the provisions of the Code applies. A committee or any officer of the society authorized in that behalf by the bye-laws may sue or be sued in its name. 'Authorization' means to give right or authority to a particular person to act on behalf of the society to sue or be sued. 'To sue' means initiating or defending any legal proceedings in accordance with the provisions of the CPC. What appears from reading of Section 18 of the A.P. Act is that the registration of a Society shall render it a body corporate by the name under which it was registered having perpetual succession and a common seal. Thus, although the Society is not incorporated and it is registered, it is rendered a body corporate which can have perpetual succession and have a common seal. Section 18 makes it clear that as the Society will be rendered body corporate, it shall be entitled to acquire, hold and dispose of property, to enter into contracts, to institute and defend suits and other legal proceedings and to do all other things necessary for the furtherance of the aim for which it was constituted. The Learned Counsel for the Respondents has rightly submitted that even if best case of the Appellant is accepted, the Society which will be deemed to be a body corporate is for the purposes as mentioned in Section 18, and not Company incorporated as such - Section 2 read with Section 3 (7) does not spell out that the Respondents Companies in these Appeals are ‘Corporate Persons’ under the ‘I&B Code’ to whom provisions for ‘I&B Code’ would apply. There are no substance in these Appeals - appeal dismissed.
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