9911796707
TMI Blog2007 (12) TMI 284X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... red to be a trespasser with no right to remain in possession of any part of premises No. 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur, or any structure thereon. The Official Liquidator is directed to obtain police help, if necessary, for the purpose of removal of Garg and making over possession of the said premises to the applicant within a period of 10 weeks hereof. The applicant will pay costs assessed at 1,000 GMs to the Official Liquidator. - C.A. NOS. 376 OF 2006 AND 86 OF 2007 BIFR NO. 100 OF 1991 - - - Dated:- 6-12-2007 - SANJIB BANERJEE, J. P.C. Sen, S.N. Mookherjee, M.C. Ghosh and Dilip Kumar Ghosh for the Applicant. R. Bachawat, J. Chowdhury and R. Upadhyay for the Respondent. JUDGMENT 1. This is a disclaimer application with a twist. The applicant seeks a direction on the Official Liquidator to make over possession of the concerned premises to it with knowledge that it is not the Official Liquidator who is in actual possession of the premises. The applicant insists that even without its endeavour being facilitated as it has been in this case, it is entitled to seek not only a direction on the Official Liquidator to surrender the rights of the company in liq ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 7-3-2000. The property is at 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur, a prominent address in the better part of that town. 5. In terms of the lease, the company erected a bungalow at the said premises and, according to the applicant, such property was never shown as belonging to the company in its balance-sheets nor had it been given as security for the substantial credit facilities obtained by the company. By a notice issued in April, 2001, the applicant called upon the Official Liquidator to make over possession of the premises. The suit, C. S. No. 212 of 2002, was filed before this Court shortly thereafter with a prayer for recovery of possession of the land and for the arrears of rent. 6. One of the banks and financial institutions which had made credit facilities available to the company, filed recovery proceedings and prayed for an order for sale of the securities held by them. T.A. No. 124 of 2001, was instituted by the Indian Bank before the Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Calcutta, under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. 7. In such proceedings, the bank applied for sale of the company s properties including its factory and manufacturing e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ered to him. It was only just before the hearing was concluded herein that Garg filed a supplementary affidavit in which he relied on the minutes of a meeting held by a special officer appointed by the Debt Recovery Tribunal showing that possession of the land and the building thereat was made over to him. 11. Garg records in his original affidavit filed in these proceedings that the bank applied for sale of the concerned premises be set aside. Simultaneously, the bank preferred an appeal from the Debts Recovery Tribunal order of 20-1-2004. The appeal was disposed of on 18-1-2005, by directing the Tribunal to hear out the application seeking setting aside of the sale. Garg preferred a revisional application to this Court from the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal order of 18-1-2005. Such revisional application, Co. No. 90 of 2005, was disposed of on 20-3-2005, by directing the parties to maintain status quo as on that date in respect of the concerned property, but otherwise not interfering with the directions contained in the impugned order. 12. There were two applications before the Debts Recovery Tribunal in respect of the said property which were to be immediately hear ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ll get only debris. Even a note of caution has been uttered from the learned Presiding Officer that the intending purchasers before quoting the price should consider this aspect of purchasing the debris of the guest house structure. Secondly, that on 19-1-2004, the TISCO has proposed to participate in the auction and bid for sale and sought for time to get instruction from the headquarters at Jamshedpur about the price for the guest house structure to be offered by the TISCO and has been allowed only one day s time to come with the offer. Thirdly, that on 20-1-2004, the matter was taken up when many intending purchasers did not turn up due to an unfortunate observation of the learned Presiding Officer on 19-1-2004. Fourthly that the learned lawyer for the bank requested for postponement of the sale of the impugned guest house on the grounds that adequate publicity for sale has not been given nor there was proper publication and proper reserve price has not been fixed since the valuation of the guest house with the possession right in the land has been valued at Rs. 1.51 crores, approximately. And fifthly, that TISCO has a preferential right to purchase the structure at present mark ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... p. Cas. 394 (Cal.) and Smt. Pushpa Devi Jhunjhunwalla v. Official Liquidator, High Court, Calcutta [1993] 1 Cal. LJ 447, for the proposition that matters of such nature as urged by the applicant can be dealt with by the Company Court in course of the company s liquidation. The applicant has relied on Sakow Industries (P.) Ltd. (In Liquidation), In re [1990] 67 Comp. Cas. 16 (Cal.) for the proposition that if the Official Liquidator had no use of a lease-hold land in the course of winding up of the company, he should disclaim the same. 18. Garg has relied on Smt. Nirmala R. Bafna v. Khandesh Spg. Wvg. Mills Co. Ltd. [1992] 74 Comp. Cas. 1 (SC) and Ashoka Ghose v. Official Liquidator of Remington Rand of India. Ltd. [2004] 121 Comp. Cas. 229 1 (Cal.), to urge that matters of such nature need to be decided in a suit. Garg has cited ICICI Bank Ltd. v. Sidco Leathers Ltd. [2006] 131 Comp. Cas. 451 2 (SC) to demonstrate that the jurisdiction of the Debts Recovery Tribunal under the 1993 Act is exclusive and is not subject to supervision by the Company Court presiding over the liquidation of a company directed to be wound up. 19. In the Smt. Nirmala R. Bafn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of his own accord, sought to produce all that he has in support of his right to retain possession of the property, there is no impediment in considering the entirety of the matter and Garg s rights. Garg can no longer be heard to urge that despite his intervention, he should be permitted to go out and the entire matter be required to be adjudicated afresh either in the applicant s suit or in fresh proceedings to be instituted by the applicant. Such a step would lead to multiplicity of proceedings which courts generally frown upon. 22. It is not necessary that the issues involved in matters of such nature be answered in summary proceedings. If necessary, the Company Court can direct a full-scale trial and receive oral evidence. But the Company Court has to feel the need for receiving oral evidence. It is not found expedient, given the nature of the right that Garg asserts, to call for any oral evidence. Despite the applicant questioning the special officer s minutes of 29-2-2004, upon it having been produced at a belated stage, even if the minutes show that Garg is in possession, the effect of the dismissal of Garg s application by the Tribunal s order of 19-5-2005, cannot be u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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