CENTRAL CALCUTTA BANK LTD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a proceeding under Section 45-G of the Banking Companies Act, The proceedings relate to the affairs of the Central Calcutta Bank Ltd., now in Liquidation.

(2.) The Report of the Court Liquidator who is the Official Liquidator of the Central Calcutta Bank Ltd. (in Liquidation) was submitted to this Court under Section 45-G of the Banking Companies Act on 2-1-1957. The main prayer in the Report asks for an order directing public examination of the Directors of the Bank mentioned in the Report on a date to bo appointed by the Court. The names of the Directors for the relevant period are mentioned in paragraph 4 of the Report of whom No. 1 Charu Chandra Dutt, who was the Chairman of the Board of Directors, is now dead and two others, Nos. 12 and 13 being respectively Asoke Kumar Sen and Jotindra Chandra Rui, have been released from these proceedings by me on the ground that they were not concerned with the transactions complained of during the relevant period.

(3.) A number of Directors have appeared through Counsel and filed their respective affidavits. On the merits the gist of their affidavits is that they were passive onlookers and dummies on the Board of Directors and it was the Managing Director, Debidas Roy, who was responsible for all the losses of the Bank. I have held previously that I do not consider that to be a sufficient ground why these directors should not be publicly examined. The Companies Act does not provide for sleeping Directors. If they were acting as Directors, then it is no excuse to say that they asked somebody else to do their job. The Companies Act charges a Director with many responsible duties and expects every Director to discharge such duties. Many statutory duties are imposed on him under the law, and he cannot delegate his entire statutory office to somebody else, On the 'merits, therefore, the objections on behalf of the Directors to their public examination have not been pressed.