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TMI Blog2021 (3) TMI 609X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... secured creditor, and Mr. D. Pangam who appears along with Mr. P. Sawant on behalf of 121 workmen. 2. The Official Liquidator, by filing this report has sought the following directions from the Court : (a) In view of para 7 supra, whether this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to take on record the certified list of 121 adjudicated claims of Ex-workers as admitted by the Official Liquidator; (b) In view of para 8 supra, whether this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct the Corporation Bank to deposit an amount of 7,45,79,292/- with Rs. Official Liquidator to enable the Official Liquidator to distribute the same to 121 workers; (c) In view of para 9 supra, whether this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to consider the request of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of Rs.7.45 crores as payable to the 121 workmen. This dispute is almost entirely based on "report of enquiry" submitted by Advocate Vijay Palekar who claims to have inspected the file of the Company which is being wound up and who has ultimately opined that "overall dues are inflated to the extent of around 14.84% i.e. around Rs.1,10,67,563/-". This Advocate has gone to the extent of further opining that "the assessment of dues as worked out by M/s. P. V. Bhandre & Co., and confirmed by the Official Liquidator does not represent the actual dues of the workmen and they suffer from being inflated". 6. Now, as noted above M/s. P. V. Bhandre & Co. is a respectable firm of Chartered Accountants on the panel of Official Liquidator as approved ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Liquidator but surely this is not how the reports prepared by the professional can be assailed. 9. To this self-serving enquiry report, is annexed a summary of information collected in respect of 121 workmen. This is supposed to be based upon certain payslips that were discovered by the enquiry officer at a later point in time. Again, there is no credibility to such discovery. Suffice to note that at the initial stage, the calculations were made by the Official Liquidator and the Chartered Accountants appointed by the Official Liquidator after giving an opportunity of hearing not only to the Bank and the workmen but also to the Ex-directors. All records were examined professionally and this is the figure was arrived at. 10. Now the enq ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n of re-adjudication of the workmen dues. The entire exercise carried out by the professionals cannot be upset based upon some alleged chance discovery of salary slips. There is no guarantee about the authenticity of such salary slips and in any case, there is no reason to revisit this issue of determination of the workmen dues based on surmises and conjectures. The earlier determination process was fair and after the involvement of all stakeholders. Such determination cannot be set at naught based on such vague premises. Besides, it is quite surprising that the OL seeks to express doubts on the exercise undertaken by its empannelled Chartered Accountants on the fanciful grounds to be found in the self-serving report got prepared by the Ban ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ased on such illustration in the affidavit filed by the authorized officer of the Bank. 15. Mr. Pangam does not dispute the principles proposed by Mr. Usgaonkar. So also Ms. Razaq, learned counsel for the Official Liquidator also does not dispute the principles proposed by Mr. Usgaonkar. Even according to me, the principles proposed by Mr. Usgaonkar are quite correct and consistent with the provisions of Sections 529 and 529A of the Companies Act as explained in the illustration and the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Andhra Bank (supra). However, while applying these principles the dues payable to the 121 workmen will have to be taken as Rs.7.45 crores as originally and correctly determined by the Official Liquidator based on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of Rs.3.71 crores will have to be paid to the 121 workmen with whom this Court is presently concerned. 19. By orders dated 26th February 2021 and 5th March 2021, an amount of Rs.1.46 crores or thereabouts was already directed to be paid to the 121 workmen on pro-rata basis. Therefore, this amount will have to be deducted from the amount of Rs.3.71 crores now payable to these 121 workmen. Further, Mr. Usgaonkar pointed out that by order dated 1st October 2015, an amount of Rs.71,19,770/- was also paid to the 121 workmen. Therefore, even this amount will have to be deducted from the amount of Rs.3.71 crores as aforesaid. 20. Ms. Razaq points out that even on the amount of Rs.45.30, interest must have accrued and orders can be made for th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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