AOP INDIA PVT LTD Vs. OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) C.A. No. 383 of 2007 is the first application in point of time made by some workers along with an alleged well-wisher of the company (in liquidation) invoking Sections 391, 394 and 466 of the Companies Act, 1956 in the same breath. The applicants in C.A. No. 383 of 2007 expressed a pious wish to run the business of the company (in liquidation) and obtained an interim order on July 2, 2008. The order stayed the winding up of the company for a period of six months. Paragraph 4.2 of the order referred to a solitary applicant and recognised such solitary applicant to be an ex-worker and a contributory holding "35 per cent. share" in the company (in liquidation). The order of July 2, 2008 also recorded as follows:

(2.) A committee of management was formed under the aegis of a special officer and the committee was directed to function for a period of six months. The order also required the views of the unsecured creditors of the company (in liquidation) to be ascertained at a meeting to be held under Section 391(1) of the Companies Act. The order noticed that despite advertisements no secured creditor of the company had stepped forward to oppose the arrangement.

(3.) The order of temporary stay of winding up, probably made under Section 466 of the Act, has not been continued after the expiry of the six months following the order of July 2, 2008. The applicants have continued to run and manage the business of the company and have used all its assets without any sanction of law or leave of court or any moral or equitable authority. This, by itself, would call for the applicants in C.A. No. 383 of 2007 to be debarred from having anything to do with the assets of the company (in liquidation).