State of Madhya Pradesh vs Official Liquidator M/s. Hukumchand Mills Ltd. (In Liquidation) & Ors.

NON-REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 18898-18899 OF 2017 [@ SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (C) NOs. 6548-6549 OF 2017]

STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Appellant(s)

VERSUS

OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR M/S HUKUMCHAND MILLS LTD.(IN LIQUIDATION) & ORS. Respondent(s)

J U D G M E N T

KURIAN, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The limited grievance with which the

appellant-State has come up before this Court is

that the liberty sought by it before the learned

Company Judge to file a suit has been declined.

3. The application was filed under Section 446

of the Companies Act, 1956. The reason for

rejection of the application, according to the

High Court, is that the State did not have any

say in the matter since it was a case of lease

between the Municipal Corporation and the company

in liquidation. However, it is the case of the

Signature Not Verified State that the State is the owner of the land, Digitally signed by JAYANT KUMAR ARORA Date: 2017.11.23 16:10:20 IST Reason: therefore, it has a stake in the matter. 2

4. In our view, this being a new case set up by

the State for the first time before this Court,

the same needs to be addressed by the learned

Company Judge.

5. Accordingly, the impugned order is set aside

and the matter is remitted to the learned Company

Judge. We make it clear that the learned Company

Judge will decide the matter afresh without being

influenced by any of the observations made by

this Court or the stand taken by the High Court

in the impugned order. We request the learned

Company Judge to consider the matter

expeditiously and in any case, within two months

from the date of production of a copy of this

Judgment.

6. We make it clear that we have not expressed

any opinion on the merits of the case, therefore,

all contentions are left open to the parties to

raise before the learned Company Judge. It will

be open to the secured creditors to bring to the

notice of the Company Judge any subsequent

development as well. The contentions made on

behalf of the workmen shall also be addressed by

the learned Company Judge.

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7. In view of the above, the civil appeals are

disposed of.

Pending Interlocutory Applications, if any, stand

disposed of.

.......................J. [ KURIAN JOSEPH ]

.......................J. [ R. BANUMATHI ]

New Delhi;

November 17, 2017.

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ITEM NO.7 COURT NO.5 SECTION IV-A

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 6548-6549/2017

(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 14-06-2016 in CO No. 3/2014 14-06-2016 in CO No. 4/2014 passed by the High Court Of M.p At Indore)

STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR M/S HUKUMCHAND MILLS LTD. (IN LIQUIDATION) & ORS. Respondent(s)

(FOR STAY APPLICATION ON IA 5/2017 FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. ON IA 7/2017 and IA No.63075/2017-PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS and IA No.63088/2017-PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS FOR APPLICATION FOR TRANSPOSITION ON IA 51476/2017)

Date : 17-11-2017 These matters were called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KURIAN JOSEPH HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE R. BANUMATHI

Counsel for the parties Mr. Dhruv Mehta, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Amish Tandon, Adv.

Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, Adv.

Mr. Purushaindra Kaurav, Adv. Gen. Mr. Arjun Garg, Adv.

Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Manish Yadav, Adv.

Mr. Rohit Chandra, Adv.

Mr. Aakash Nandolia, Adv.

Mr. Sandeep Mahapatra, Adv.

Ms. Mrinmayee Sahu, Adv.

Mr. Kayesh Begg, Adv.

Mr. Navee Kumar, Adv.

Mr. Rabin Majumder, Adv.

Mr. Mishra Saurabh, Adv.

Mr. Ankit Kumar Lal, Adv.

Mr. Navin Prakash, Adv.

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Mr. Girish Patwardhan, Adv.

Mr. Dheeraj Singh Panwar, Adv. Ms. Meetu Singh, Adv.

Mr. Amar Dave, Adv.

Mr. Krishnayan Sen, Adv.

Mr. Uddyam Mukherjee, Adv.

Mr. Sanjay Kapur, Adv.

Ms. Mansi Kapur, Adv.

Ms. Megha Karnwal, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

Leave granted.

The civil appeals are disposed of in terms of the signed

non-reportable Judgment.

Pending Interlocutory Applications, if any, stand disposed of.

(JAYANT KUMAR ARORA) (RENU DIWAN) COURT MASTER ASSISTANT REGISTRAR

(Signed non-reportable Judgment is placed on the file)