SOCIETE GENERALE Vs. DAEWOO MOTORS INDIA LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Respondent company, Daewoo Motors India Ltd. was ordered by this Court to be provisionally wound up on 24th November 2003 and finally wound up on 28th July 2004. The Official Liquidator ('OL') attached to this Court had been appointed as the Liquidator.

(2.) Prior thereto, in the proceedings initiated by the ICICI Bank ('ICICI') before the Debts Recovery Tribunal ('DRT') No. III in Mumbai, an order had been passed on 9th May 2002 by the DRT, appointing a Receiver. A Debt Recovery Certificate in favour of ICICI was issued by DRT on 11th October 2004. ICICI assigned the Debts Recovery Certificate in favour of Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd. ('ARCIL') on 29th March 2005, thereby ARCIL stepped into the shoes of ICICI in the proceedings before the DRT. The other assignee of the debt was Stressed Assets Stabilization Fund ('SASF'). The DRT, Mumbai invited bids for the sale of the fixed asset, which was the factory premises at A-1, Surajpur Industrial Area, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, admeasuring 204 acres.

(3.) As far as the proceedings in this Court are concerned, it appears that by an order dated 4th March 2004 passed by the Court in an application made by ICICI, this Court was made aware of the proceedings in the DRT Mumbai under the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 ('RDDB Act'). The Court restrained the OL from taking possession of the aforementioned factory premises and modified its earlier order in that regard passed on 24th November 2003. By an order dated 24th May 2006, in CA No.1549 of 2005, the Court noted that 1524 claims had been received from the workmen. It, accordingly, appointed a three-member Committee, of which the Assistant Official Liquidator ('AOL') was part, to scrutinize the claims of the workmen. It is seen that the composition of the Committee was altered with one member being replaced by an order dated 30th July 2007.