9911796707
TMI Blog2003 (11) TMI 452X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upon the receipt to enable the depositor either to receive payment of the amount due or to arrange for renewal of the deposits. No further information will be given to the depositor." 1.1 Clause 5 stipulated as follows : "5. Deposit receipts must be returned duly signed by the depositors at least two weeks before the date of maturity to arrange for refund/renewal." 2. The deposit matured on 5-12-1999. On 16-4-2002, a statutory notice under section 434 of the Companies Act, 1956, was addressed by the petitioner to the respondent claiming repayment of the monies due and payable. There were further notices, dated 9-5-2002, 2-7-2002, and 19-7-2002, before the company petition came to be instituted in this Court on 23-8-2002. The noti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n 5-12-1999; ( ii ) a suit ought to have been filed within a period of three years thereafter; ( iii ) the company petition was instituted on 23-8-2002; ( iv ) as originally filed, it was against Lloyds Housing Finance Ltd.; and ( v ) it was only on 30-9-2003, that an amendment came to be allowed by this Court permitting the petitioner to delete the reference to Lloyds Housing Finance Ltd. and to proceed against Lloyds Finance Ltd. 5. In order to consider whether the debt on the basis of which the petition has been instituted is barred by limitation, it would be material to advert to the provisions of articles 21 and 22 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act which provide thus : Description of suit Period of limitati ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , there is no immediate obligation to repay in the case of a deposit. The judgment of the Madras High Court was followed by a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Mansa Ram Sons (Bankers) v. Janki Dass Om Prakash AIR 1984 All 267. The Allahabad High Court adverted to Sheldon s Practice and Law of Banking (10th Edition at page 145) wherein the law was summarised thus : "The statute begins to operate immediately the money is due to be repaid i.e., after the expiration of the specified notice of withdrawal. If the deposit is for a fixed period, the statute begins to run immediately upon expiration of the agreed period. If the repayment of the money is conditional upon the return of the receipt, then the date of its return ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... discharge of the deposit receipt. Counsel for the petitioner has stated that the petitioner is in possession of the original receipt and is ready and willing to furnish it to the respondent against the repayment of the amount which is due and payable. The limitation of three years in such a case would begin to run when a demand is made within the meaning of article 22 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act. Thus, I do not find any merit in the defence that the debt is time-barred. 9. However, having regard to the defence which has been raised in the present case, I am of the view that it would not be appropriate for this Court to pass a decree in a petition for winding up. At this stage, instead, the appropriate order for the Court to p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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