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TMI Blog1960 (4) TMI 16X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns, was shifted at first to Ambala and later on to Ludhiana in East Punjab. On 6th of February, 1957, the petitioner served a registered notice on the managing director of the respondent bank requesting that his 280 shares, on which 75 per cent. had been paid, may be reduced and converted into 210 fully paid-up shares as he was a displaced person from Lahore. Exhibit P.W. 1/2 is the acknowledgment receipt of the notice. This case, which was filed before the Tribunal at Delhi, has been transferred to this court by virtue of section 45B of the Banking Companies Act (X of 1949). An application had been made for the winding up of the bank by North India Radhaswami Educational Society on 10th of March, I955. While the petition for the winding ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd may be disposed of together. According to the contentions of the bank a petition under section 19 is not competent as the winding up petition was presented on 10th of March, 1955, long before the date of petitioner's application to the bank under section 19(2). Mr. Krishan Lal Kapur, learned counsel for the bank, has drawn my attention to the provisions of section 441 of the Companies Act, 1956, and has argued that the winding up of a company by the court is to be "deemed to commence at the time of the presentation of the petition for the winding up." His contention is that when construing the provisions of section 20 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, the language of section 441 of the Companies Act has to be borne in mind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the word "deemed" means "supposed", "considered", "construed", "thought", "taken to be", or "presumed". The word "deemed" refers to "what is supposed to be", not to "what actually is". It rather suggests that something is being assumed as true for certain purposes though really it is not so. Cave J. in Queen v. County Council of Norfolk [1891] 60 LJQB 379 , said : "Generally speaking, when you talk of a thing being deemed to be something, you do not mean that it is that which it is deemed to be. It is rather an admission that it is not what it is deemed to be and that, notwithstanding it is not that particular thing, nevertheless, for the purposes of the Act, it is to be deemed to be that thing." Griffith C. J., of the High Cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to have been surrendered on that date." To a similar effect were the remarks of James L. J. in Ex parte Walton [1881] 50 LJ Ch. 657; 17 Ch. D. 746, 756 : "When a statute enacts that something shall be deemed to have been done, which in fact and truth was not done, the court is entitled and bound to ascertain for what purposes and between what persons the statutory fiction is to be resorted to." Earl of Halsbury L. C. in Shepheard v. Broome [1904] AC 342, 345 , said : "I feel with Cozens-Hardy L. J. that it is a painful duty to be obliged to treat that as fraudulent which in truth was not fraudulent; but section 38 of the Act of 1867 (Companies Act, 1867) compels us to say that it shall be deemed to be fraudulent. The s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ociety, as the case may be, in respect of any share held by him or it in the company or society on the 15th day of August, 1947." The words "Where a company .is being wound up" are significant. The use of the word "being" indicates the process towards the completed result expressed by the participle "wound up." If it was the intention of the Legislature to give an extended meaning to the expression "where a company is being wound up" then appropriate language would have been used to indicate that winding up would be deemed to commence from the date of the presentation of the petition. It is always open to the Legislature to either restrict or expand the meaning of words or terms in order to give effect to the purpose of the Act. Where ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the provisions of section 19 applied, and to those, which were being dissolved, the provisions of section 20 were made applicable. The provisions of sections 19 and 20 of the Act do not overlap but are independent of each other being mutually exclusive. Section 19 deals with rights of displaced persons in going concerns which are functioning, and section 20 refers to their rights in relation to companies and co-operative societies which are being liquidated or in other words, which are "being wound up"; vide Bhai Mohan Singh's case ( supra ). Thus, there is no apprehension of any conflict between the provisions of section 20 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, and section 441 of the Companies Act, and they operate within to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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