TMI Blog1984 (4) TMI 247X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land admeasuring 1,46,991 sq. ft. being a Nazul plot from Khamgaon Municipal Committee in the year 1945. The lease was for a period of 30 years with an option for renewal, and it commenced from July 2, 1944. The company had also established a factory over the said plot and had purchased several machineries of substantial value and had commenced its business. In the year 1953, another concern known as "Rai Saheb R.G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd., Akola" had secured a loan from Laxmi Bank, and for that purpose, the present company, M/s. Bulakidas Mohta and Co., had tendered an equitable mortgage of their property and assets to the Laxmi Bank for the security of the said loan. The company, Bulakidas Mohta and Co., were furnishing their balance-sheets and accounts to the Registrar of Companies right from its incorporation till October, 1959. It was at about that time that the Laxmi Bank, the principal who had advanced the loan to M/s. Rai Saheb R.G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd., went into liquidation. As a natural result, the properties and assets of Bulakidas Mohta and Co., which were under equitable mortgage with the Laxmi Bank, were taken over under the custody ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 5,16,801*50, payable to the nationalised mills. This award amount was received by the official receiver for and on account of R. G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. It may not be out of place to mention here that at the time the Laxmi Bank went into liquidation, R. G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills owed them an amount of Rs. 4,46,000 odd on the date of liquidation against their "loan account" and for which Bulakidas Mohta and Co. were the guarantors. By payment of the awarded amount of compensation running into Rs. 5 lakhs odd, substantial claim of the Laxmi Bank, in liquidation, as it stands against R.G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills, has been satisfied. It is after these events, it appears, that the members and shareholders of the defunct company, Bulakidas Mohta and Co., convened an informal meeting in the months of October, 1980, and November, 1980, and expressed their desire to resume the business of the said company and also to get the name restored in the register of companies by the Registrar of Companies. Immediately after, in March, 1981, the present petition under section 560(6) of the Companies Act came to be filed. The first respondent is the Registrar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... res respectively apart from other shareholders. This averment is not refuted on behalf of the Registrar of Companies or the official receiver. In that view of the matter, it is certain that the petitioners were the members of the company from 1950 and, at any rate, till the company was dissolved and the name was struck off under section 560 of the Companies Act in the year 1968. In my opinion, therefore, the petitioners, as members of the said company, have a right to apply within 20 years for restoration of the name of the company in the register of companies. The present petition is also filed within the period of 20 years from 1968 and is, therefore, maintainable. Shri Mukherjee, advocate, for the petitioners, apprised this court of the sequence of events in connection with Bulakidas Mohta and Co. right from its inception in 1939 till its name was struck off in the year 1968. It is on the basis of the said data that I have given the facts in the opening part of the judgment. According to Shri Mukherjee, counsel for the petitioners, inasmuch as the company's name was struck off in inevitable circumstances narrated above and the company lost its directors during the course of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the assets of Bulakidas Mohta and Co. For one reason or the other, the company is in operation even though it is not carrying on any business and, at any rate, Shri Mukherjee, counsel for the petitioners, submits that it could be in the interests of justice, equity and good conscience to restore the name of the company for the benefit that will enure to all its creditors as well as to the members of the company. All these averments in the petition could have been contested on behalf of the Registrar of Companies, but even though served, he has chosen not to contest the same. The official receiver, respondent No. 2, has filed his statement on oath through the assistant official liquidator. In the reply affidavit, the official receiver has not disputed the statement of facts in respect of the events from the years 1939 to 1968 regarding Bulakidas Mohta and Co. On the other hand, the official receiver, by his reply in paragraph 4, has admitted that by letter dated May 16, 1980, the Assistant Commissioner of Payments has passed an award in respect of R. G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills and a payment of Rs. 5,16,000 odd has been received by the official receiver as against the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s has been wiped out by the payment of the compensation awarded by the Assistant Commissioner in the case of the nationalised textile mills, i.e. , in the case of R.G. Mohta Spinning and Weaving Mills. Apparently, therefore, if the directors and members of the said company are now in a position to re.store the company to the register of companies and to assimilate and collect funds sufficient for putting the company into normal function, particularly when there is no serious objection either from the Registrar of Companies or the official receiver, I would feel that the petitioners have given satisfactory explanation for the stoppage of their business during 1960 to 1980 and, after this petition was filed, they have bona fide pursued the said petition to seek restoration of the name of the company on the register of companies. It is not only the interests of Bulakidas Mohta and Co. which is to be considered, but it is also necessary to keep in view the claims of other creditors that may be against the said company as also the viable functioning of the business of the company which would enure for the benefit of all the members of the company, its shareholders, creditors and debtor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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