GANESH EXPORT AND IMPORT CO Vs. MAHADEOLAL NATHMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The judgment of the Court will be delivered by my learned brother. I only desire to make a few general observations on the point of law involved in the appeal and two of the cases.

(2.) The actual question to be decided in the case is whether, in the liquidation of the Sisir Oil Industries Ltd., the respondents can claim to be paid a sum of Rs. 3,01,397-4-3 in priority over all creditors of the company. Of that amount, a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- is claimed by way of refund of a security deposit made for the due performance of an agreement and the balance is claimed as interest on that sum, both under the terms of the agreement itself.

(3.) The insolvent in the present case is a company. Upon an order for the winding up of a company being made, the liquidator is to collect and distribute its assets among the creditors and thereafter if there be a surplus, among the contribute ries, subject to the rights of the secured creditors and the claim, if any, of some of the creditors to be paid in priority. What the general body of creditors can claim to be distributed among them are the assets of the company. The answer to the question in the present case, therefore, depends on whether the amount claimed by the respondents came to belong to the company and is held by it as a part of its assets.