(1.) THE above captioned company petition has been filed by the petitioners by invoking the jurisdiction of this Bench conferred upon it by virtue of the provisions contained in sections 397 and 398 read with section 402 of the Companies Act, 1956 ('the Act') alleging certain acts of oppression and mismanagement in the affairs of R1 -company by the respondent -group. The petitioners have sought various reliefs as contained in the relief clause of the petition. Along with the C.P., I am also considering the following application filed on behalf of the respondents.
(2.) INSOFAR as the application being C.A. No. 154 of 2013 is concerned it shall be dealt with hereinafter. However, the Application being C.A. No. 204 of 2013 is allowed as prayed.
(3.) ON behalf of the respondents, reply has been filed. In their reply they have taken a preliminary objection thereby challenging the maintainability of the petition, inter alia, on the ground that the petitioners were not shareholders of the R3 -company on the date of filing of the petition and, therefore, they do not qualify in terms of the provisions contained in section 399 of the Act and the petition, therefore, is liable to be dismissed being not maintainable.