KAINTH FINANCE P LTD Vs. KARAM SINGH KAINTH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE official liquidator, as a liquidator of Kainth Finance (P.) Limited, has filed this petition under section 543 (1) of the Companies Act, 1956 (hereinafter called "the Act"), for compelling the respondents to restore the amount to the company.

(2.) IN order to properly appreciate the rival contentions raised by the parties for grant of the relief prayed for on the one hand and the very sustainability of the claim on the other, it would be necessary to refer to the facts giving rise to this petition.

(3.) THE official liquidator attached to the company court was appointed as liquidator of the company, vide the same order and was directed to take charge of the assets and accounts books of the company. While examining the state of affairs of the company, it was realised by the official liquidator that the pronotes executed by the debtors in favour of the company during the period 1975-76, have been permitted to become bad debts as they had become barred by time even before the appointment of the voluntary liquidator on March 24, 1980. The official liquidator claims to have taken up the matter with the voluntary liquidator, Mr. Gopal Krishan Monga, who submitted the records to the official liquidator, after he could obtain the records from the respondents as per the letter dated September 30, 1982. An affidavit dated September 10, 1991, was also submitted by the voluntary liquidator, Mr. Monga, that the debts of the company had become barred by time before the records were handed over to him.