BHARAT COMMERCE INDUSTRIES LTD. AND ORS. Vs. APPELLATE AUTHORITY FOR INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL RECONSTRUCTION AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Respondent No. 4 M/s. Bharat Commerce Industries Ltd. (in short "BCI") is a sick company. Dispute herein is regarding sale of its property, i.e., Block No. IV situated in Rajpura, sale of which was confirmed in favour of Respondents Nos. 5 to 7 on May 30, 2005.

(2.) The Petitioners represent the employees of Respondent No. 4. It is their case that they are residing in BCI Colony, which is situated in the property, in dispute, for a very long period running between 6 and 35 years (detail is given in paragraph No. 2 of this writ petition).

(3.) As per evidence on record BCI was declared a sick company by Respondent No. 2 ("the BIFR") on May 16, 2000, under Section 15 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (in short "the Act"). Respondent No. 3 (IDBI) was appointed as an operating agency under Section 17(3) of the Act, however, despite efforts, Respondent No. 4 could not be rehabilitated. Vide order dated January 22, 2004, the BIFR appointed the IDBI as its selling agency under Section 20(4) of the Act and permitted it to sell assets of the company, as per directions given by the BIFR. It was directed that the sale be conducted after advertisement and in a transparent manner under immediate supervision of the Assets Sale Committee (ASC). The sale proceeds were to be remitted by IDBI to the official liquidator of the concerned High Court for distribution, as per provisions of Section 529A of the Companies Act, 1956. The concluding portion of the order dated January 22, 2004, reads thus: