9911796707
TMI Blog1969 (4) TMI 60X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . (P) Ltd. The said company went into voluntary liquidation with effect from October 1,1967. In the course of the liquidation, the petitioner (hereinafter referred to as "the liquidator") realised an amount of Rs. 80,500 in respect of which directions are sought. This amount was payable to a creditor of the company, late Raja Venkata Mutyam Rao, who died on November 13,1965. The amount which was realised, as part of the assets of the company, was invested in a scheduled bank, as required under section 553 of the Act. Late Mutyam Rao left behind respondents Nos. 2 to 9 in Application No. 53 of 1968, his heirs-at-law. There were differences among them with regard to the division of the properties of late Mutyam Rao. By an agreement of parties ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. Section 555(1)(a) contemplates money in the hands of the liquidator or under his control representing "dividends payable to any creditor which had remained unpaid for six months after the date on which they were declared". The Companies (Court) Rules relating to this section are rules 335 to 338 under the heading "Payment of unclaimed dividends and undistributed assets into the companies liquidation account in a winding-up." The learned counsel for the liquidator has contended that the provision is not attracted to the moneys, the reasons being that the moneys were not dividends which were declared and even otherwise these were not unclaimed dividends. The learned counsel has submitted that the term " dividend " as such is not defined. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ress language of that provision and cannot be extended by analogy. The further contention that the moneys do not take the character of unclaimed dividends is not without force, as these are moneys which are held by the liquidator pending settlement of differences between the heirs-at-law. No doubt, section 555(1)(a) contemplates dividends payable to any creditor which had remained unpaid, but the rules framed under the section, referred to supra, rules 335 to 338, occur under the heading "Payment of unclaimed dividends", and the section and the rules should be read together. The learned counsel for the Registrar has contended differently. He urges that importance has to be given to section 555 as applicable to every mode of winding up as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion has to be interpreted as expressed in all its aspects, that is to say, the dividends payable to a creditor which were declared and which had remained unpaid for six months after the date of such declaration. The words cannot be extended by analogy, much more so when the Act has specific provisions for different types of winding up. The rules framed under the section have also to be given their meaning in conjunction with the section to which they pertain and, so understood, the references to unclaimed dividends in the rules are significant. It might well be that they mean dividends payable to a creditor which had remained unpaid because they were unclaimed for six months after the declaration of the dividends as such. For these reason ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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