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COMA/212/2010 5 ORDER
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
COMPANY
APPLICATION No. 212 of 2010
In
COMPANY
PETITION No. 212 of 1998
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TEXTILE
LABOUR ASSOCIATION - Applicant(s)
Versus
STAR
OF GUJARAT TEXTILE MILL- LTD.- OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR & 8 -
Respondent(s)
=================================================
Appearance :
MR
DS VASAVADA for Applicant(s) : 1,
OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR for
Respondent(s) : 1,
MR JS YADAV for Respondent(s) : 1,
MR SS
PANESAR for Respondent(s) : 2,
NOTICE SERVED BY DS for
Respondent(s) : 3,
=================================================
CORAM
:
HONOURABLE
MR.JUSTICE K.M.THAKER
Date
: 15/07/2011
ORAL ORDER
Present
applicant has taken out Judge’s Summons dated 25.5.2010 seeking below
mentioned directions:-
“(A) To
please direct the Official Liquidator to disburse an amount of
Rs.4,88,84,586=06 after adjustment of the amount paid to the workers;
(B) To
please further direct the Official Liquidator to work out the ratio
property-wise qua dues of the workmen and the dues of the secured
creditors upto the date of winding up order and after taking into
consideration the charge certificate to be produced by each of the
secured creditors under Section 125 of the Companies Act, 1956;
(C) To
please further direct the Official Liquidator to issue the A/c Payee
Cheque to all the workmen or identification and verification by the
Textile Labour Association, the applicant herein;
(D) To
please further direct the Official Liquidator not to make payment by
electronic media because it causes great inconvenience and hardship
to the claimants;
(E) Pending
admission, hearing and final disposal of this application, an amount
of Rs.30,00,000/- may kindly be disbursed by this Hon’ble Court on ad
hoc basis to all the workmen by A/c.Payee Cheque and on
identification and verification by the applicant Textile Labour
Association;”
1.1 The
said Judge’s Summons dated 25.5.2010 is registered as Company
Application No.212 of 2010.
2. Alongwith
one of its report, the OL has stated details about the claims made,
until now, by 3 major claimants viz. Central Bank of India, IIBI (now
assigned claim to IFCI) and Textile Labour Association. The claims
made by the said 3 claimants are to the below mentioned extent.
Sr.No.
Name
of the Creditor.
Amount
in Rs.
1.
Central
Bank of India.
16,02,04,845.74
2.
IIBI.
6,46,23,683.00
3.
Textile
Labour Association.
4,88,84,586.06
In
terms of ratio, it would come to approximately 58.53%, 23.61% and
17.86% respectively.
2.1 In
another report, the OL has also stated that, as of now, the Office of
the OL has, in his hand, a sum of Rs.1,36,78,231=00. It is, however,
claimed that out of the aforesaid amount, a sum of Rs.73,20,000=00 is
the amount which is deposited by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
by way of Earnest Money and that therefore, as per the submission of
learned advocate for the OL, for the present, the said amount cannot
be taken into account for the purpose of disbursement.
2.2 In
the result, the net amount available with the OL appears to be about
Rs.63,00,000=00.
3. As
against the aforesaid position as regards the claim and amount
available for disbursement, it transpires from the record that
pursuant to the orders dated 24.1.2003 and 22.3.2010 passed by this
Court, a sum of Rs.80,00,000=00 (Rs.50,00,000=00 plus
Rs.30,00,000=00) has been disbursed in favour of the Central Bank of
India and a sum of Rs.55,00,000=00 (Rs.30,00,000=00 plus
Rs.25,00,000=00) has been disbursed in favour of IIBI (IFCI Ltd.). It
is not in dispute that the aforesaid amounts have been disbursed on
ad-hoc basis and according to the OL, the final ratio is yet to be
determined by the Chartered Accountant’s report. Thus, pending the
said report, the aforesaid amounts have been disbursed on ad-hoc
basis. So far as workers represented by Textile Labour Association
are concerned, under the order dated 24.1.2003, a sum of
Rs.30,00,000=00 has been disbursed.
4. Now,
by virtue of present application, the workers claim disbursement for
further amount of Rs.30,00,000=00 on ad-hoc basis.
5. It
is clarified by the Office of OL that the amounts which have become
available for disbursement until now have been released from sale of
certain minor immovables and other movable properties and the land is
yet to be sold. The effect of the said submission is that substantial
amount is yet to be realized, which may become available from sale of
the land.
6. Mr.
Gandhi, learned advocate for the IFCI, has submitted that as per the
tentative ratio which emerges from the extent of claims made by the 3
parties, it appears that the claim of financial institutions/secured
creditors and the workers is in proportion of about 4 : 1 and that
therefore, the amount which was earlier paid to the workmen i.e.
Rs.30,00,000=00 was sufficient and present disbursement would, as
such, be in excess of the entitlement of the workers, at this stage.
However, considering the fact that the amounts have been received by
the OL since long and the workers claim have remained pending for
substantial long time mainly or solely on the ground that final ratio
for disbursement is yet not settled and sale proceeds from the lands
are yet to be received whereas, on the other hand, certain sums are
available for disbursement with the OL, below mentioned directions
have been issued with a view to reducing the hardships of the
workmen, atleast to some extent, who have total claim of about
Rs.4.88 Cores and until now 30 lacs are disbursed and as per the
ratio, they with 17.86% are close to IIBI (with 23.61%) who are paid
55 lacs by now.
7. Having
regard to the aforesaid factual background, particularly the amounts
already disbursed in favour of the Central Bank of India and IIBI and
taking into account that a sum of about Rs.60,00,000=00 is available
with the OL for disbursement, it appears appropriate to allow
disbursement upto Rs.25,00,000=00 in favour of workers on ad-hoc
basis, subject to usual conditions on which the earlier disbursement
of Rs.30,00,000=00 was made viz. verification of claims, forms, date
of proof and above all, verification of identity. The union shall
identify each of the workmen. Upon compliance of all usual and
routine requirements to the satisfaction of OL, including the
aforesaid aspects, a total sum of Rs.25,00,000=00 proportionate to
the claim of each of the workmen may be disbursed by the Office of
OL. The aforesaid exercise, including the obligation on the part of
the workmen to supply complete details to the satisfaction of the
Office of OL, may be completed within period of 8 weeks from the date
of receipt of present order. In case of need, the OL is permitted to
go for premature encashment of fixed deposits.
7.1 It
is further clarified that in one of the reports filed by OL in
response to present application, certain directions, including
permission to appoint the Chartered Accountant for verification of
claims received pursuant to the advertisement and fixing upset price
for sale of land, etc. is prayed for. However, the OL is permitted to
nominate the Chartered Accountant as per the earlier guidelines and
all other prayers made by the OL in its report is, for the present,
deferred with liberty to the OL to take appropriate report for the
same.
8. In
view of the fact that the ratio on the basis of Chartered
Accountant’s Report is yet to be worked out and that is an undisputed
position, the relief prayed for in para (B) of present application
stands deferred since the same cannot be granted at this stage. So
far as the relief prayed for in para (D) is concerned, the applicant
has sought permission to delete the same. Permission, as sought for,
is granted. In view of the aforesaid direction that after due
verification of claims, forms, date of proof and identity proof, the
amount may be paid to the workmen and in view of deletion of prayer
(D), the relief prayed for in para (E) also partly allowed and the
relief prayed for in para (B) would not survive.
With
the aforesaid clarification and direction, Company Application No.212
of 2010 stands disposed of.
kdc [K.M.Thaker,
J.]
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