ASSAMBROOK LTD Vs. MANJU DEVI SINGHANIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Section 58A of the Companies Act, 1956 is with regard to deposits that may be invited or accepted by a company. Section 58A(9) has become important in this appeal. It provides that if a company fails to repay any deposit or any part of it, the Company Law Board may order repayment on terms set by it upon an application being made to it, inter alia, by a depositor.

(2.) The appellant is one such company which invited public deposits and was, without dispute, unable to repay them. Several depositors filed applications before the Company Law Board under section 58A(9) of the Act seeking repayment. The Company Law Board disposed of all these applications by a common order on September 24, 2002, inter alia, directing the company to make repayment of all deposits on the terms mentioned in the order with interest at 10 per cent. per annum "beyond the date of maturity".

(3.) The appellant-company made another application to the Company Law Board for extension of the time period fixed by the order dated September 24, 2002, to make repayment of the deposits. The company said that according to the order dated September 24, 2002, it had paid Rs. 85 lakhs. Rs. 1.81 crores was to be paid. As the conditions in the tea industry were adverse, it had suffered loss around that period of time. Time may be extended till March, 2008 to repay the deposits. The Company Law Board did not grant time till March, 2008 but did so till 2007, by its order dated January 31, 2005.