BIRDS JUTE AND EXPORTS LTD Vs. OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Lansdowne Jute Co. Ltd., originally incorporated on June 30, 1904, under the Indian Companies Act, 1882, under the name and style of the Arathoon Jute Mills Ltd., was renamed Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., in the year 1971. Birds and Co. P. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., was nationalised on October 25, 1980. Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineering took over part of the assets of Birds and Co. P. Ltd. It appears from paragraph 33 of an affidavit affirmed by Pummy Gupta and Siddharta Roy on January 8, 2008, in C.A. No. 27 of 2008 that upon nationalisation the jute division of Birds and Company P. Ltd., was renamed National Jute Manufacturers Corporation Ltd. The engineering division of Birds and Company P. Ltd., was renamed Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd. It further appears from the said affidavit that Heilgers P. Ltd. had business ties with Birds Company P. Ltd., prior to its nationalisation. After nationalisation the business which Birds and Company P. Ltd., carried on in combination with the said Heilgers P. Ltd., is alleged to have been assigned to the said Heilgers P. Ltd., and in that view of the matter the latter continued and still continues to use a portion of the registered office of Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd.

(2.) The holding company Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., was also nationalised and the same is now a subsidiary of National Jute Manufacturers Corporation Ltd., as would appear from an affidavit affirmed on April 28, 2006, by one Shri Pratyush Kumar Mitra in C.A. No. 283 of 2006. The said holding company, namely, Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., is now a sick company and is under the BIFR. Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the company in liquidation"), it appears from an affidavit of one Kamrujjaman Qamar and J. R. Khan affirmed on April 16, 2008, in C.A. No. 291 of 2008 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd., a Government of India undertaking, incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. It further appears from the said affidavit that the company in liquidation became sick and was referred to the BIFR in the year 1992. The BIFR appears to have recommended winding up of the company in the year 1996. The order of winding up was finally passed by brother A.K. Banerjee J. on July 27, 2004.

(3.) The assets and liabilities of the company in liquidation as far as ascertainable from the records may briefly be summarised as follows: