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1998 (8) TMI 456

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..... the panel prepared by the Official Liquidator could not be allowed. Finally, the Court directed the Official Liquidator to entrust all tax matters to the advocates included in the panel of advocates on equitable basis. 2. On behalf of the appellants it was contended that there was an existing panel of Chartered Accountants prepared earlier by the Company Court. In this context, the order passed by the then Company Judge on General Report No.53 9 filed by the Official Liquidator was referred to us. It was a report filed by the Liquidator praying to include one more name in the panel of Chartered Accountants already prepared. On that report, the Court ordered on 19-12-1988 as thus: "Learned counsel for the Liquidator submitted that Mr. V.I. Antony, Zachariah Associates, Chartered Accountants has requested that his firm also may be enlisted in the panel of Auditors/ Chartered Accountants to be framed. Under the circumstances the panel submitted by the Liquidator is approved including the name of Mr. V.I. Antony, Zachariah Associates, Chartered Accountants. The Liquidator may, if required, move for adding any further names to the panel." By virtue of the above order, there are .....

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..... ficial Liquidator to entrust the tax cases of the companies in liquidation to those advocates on equitable basis. The learned Judge in the said order directed the Registry to intimate the preparation of the panel to the advocates whose names are included in the panel. Whether the order passed by the learned Judge in General Report No. 698 relates to the sales tax case alone or all the tax cases including the sales tax as well as income-tax is the question which appears to have come up before the learned Judge while considering the General Report Nos. 745 and 45. The learned Judge after considering the question made the following observation: "Under the circumstances so long as the panel of advocates prepared by this Court by order dated 18-3-1997 is in force and the names of the advocates are not removed from the panel, the Official Liquidator is bound to entrust all tax matters to the advocates included in the panel on equitable basis as directed by this Court irrespective of the fact whether they are income-tax or sales tax matters." What is pointed out by the learned counsel for the Chartered Accountants is that the effect of the above direction issued by the Company Court .....

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..... gain tax Compu-tation Statement of the company in liquidation. From the impugned order, it is evident that there was no party respondents either to General Report No.745 or Report No. 45. It is also certain that notice was issued to the Advocates in the panel but no such notice was issued to the Chartered Accountants in the panel though both are not parties to the reports. However, the above prayer was disallowed by the Company Court but the Official Liquidator has not filed any appeal against the said decision. By virtue of the impugned order the appellants whose names are there in the panel of Chartered Accountants are excluded from handling the taxation work of the companies in liquidation. Therefore it cannot be said that they are not aggrieved persons who are entitled to file the appeal under section 483. Whatever that be, it may be recalled that this Court has already admitted the appeal on 30-6-1998 in view of the above reasons and pursuant to the notice the parties have already entered appearance in this appeal. After the appearance the respondents have filed their objections and therefore a decision on merits is required in the circumstances of this case. This being the b .....

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..... passed by the Company Court can be treated to be a judicial order in the facts and circumstances of this case. As against the General Report No.745 and Report No.45 submitted by the Official Liquidator, objections were filed by the advocates. In General Report No. 745 the Official Liquidator mainly prayed for permission to engage the services of the advocates in the panel in sales tax matters and Chartered Accountants in the panel for income- tax and other matters in future. The advocates in the panels contested the report and opposed the claim made on behalf of the Chartered Accoun-tants. The dispute has been finally adjudicated and the decision affected the rights of the parties. The decision taken by the Company Court has a binding force on all future transactions. The procedure followed by the Company Court has all trappings of a Court and there cannot have a different opinion on this point. When there is an adjudication of the dispute after conducting the enquiry as per the procedure prescribed under the Companies (Court) Rules we cannot say that the order passed therein by the Company Court is an administrative order. That being so, we are of the view that the order passed b .....

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..... ded from such work. There must be equivalence for both the panels, one for advocates and other for Chartered Accountants existing on the roll of the Official Liquidator. If the decision of the Official Liquidator in a given set of facts is found to be not just and proper, the matter can be set right by the Company Court in appeal from such decision. Further, all the decisions taken by the Official Liquidator in the matter of winding up of the company is normally subject to the approval of the Company Court. This is no doubt a sufficient guarantee against the arbitrary and unreasonable decisions that may sometimes be taken by the Official Liquidator. 9. In view of what is said above, we earnestly feel that certain modifica-tions are required in the impugned order. What is required is while directing the Official Liquidator to entrust the tax matters to the advo- cates in the panel, he may also be allowed to entrust such work to the Chartered Accountants in the panel if such entrustment is found to be essential having regard to the nature of the work to be performed in connection with the sales tax or income-tax, as the case may be. The Official Liquidator after taking the decisi .....

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