Company Application No. Bce-1/117C/Srb of 2003. Case: Gaurav Toshniwal Vs Best and Crompton Engineering Ltd.. Company Law Board
| Case Number | Company Application No. Bce-1/117C/Srb of 2003 |
| Counsel | K. Kuppuswamy |
| Judges | K. K. Balu (Member) |
| Issue | Companies Act, 1956 - Sections 117C, 205C, 205C(2) |
| Citation | 2004 (120) CC 451 |
| Judgement Date | March 24, 2003 |
| Court | Company Law Board |
Judgment:
K. K. Balu (Member), (Southern Region Bench)
K. K. BALU (MEMBER).- The debenture-holder in M/s. Best and Crompton Engineering Ltd. ("the company") has made this application under section 117C of the Companies Act, 1956 ("the Act"), submitting that the company has failed to redeem the debentures aggregating to Rs. 5,500 together with interest. The application came up for hearing and disposal before this Bench on August 29, 2003, September 30, 2003, and finally on October 28, 2003.
During the hearing, Shri K. Kuppuswamy, Deputy General Manager-Secretarial, appeared for the respondent-company and submitted that the company had issued 15 per cent, secured redeemable on-convertible debentures-(IV series) which were scheduled to be redeemed in three equal annual instalments on expiry of 7th, 8thand 9th years from the date of allotment. The applicant was allotted55 debentures at Rs. 100 each when he was minor, represented by his father and natural guardian, Shri Alok Toshniwal. However, during the years 1993 to 1998 the company was before the hon'ble High Court of Madras and in the year 1996 the official liquidator was appointed as the provisional liquidator and an administrator was appointed to take charge of the affairs of the company. Since an Indonesian Industrial House had evinced interest in taking over the company and settling the dues of all the creditors, deposit and debenture holders, the company had on November 15, 1997, and February 6, 1998, issued two letters/circulars to all the unclaimed debenture holders to surrender the debenture certificates to effect payment. There was no response from the applicant. Pursuant to the Department of Company Affairs, Notification No. GSR 745(E), dated October 1, 2001, the company once again, vide its letter dated July 30, 2002, requested all the unclaimed debenture holders to surrender their certificates on or before August 31, 2002, to effect payment. For this letter also the applicant had not responded. The company had, therefore, remitted the entire unclaimed redemption amount of debentures to the Investor Education and Protection Fund as specified by section 205C of the Act, vide Challan No. 317/2002-03, dated September 12, 2002. However, on May 7, 2003, the applicant had written to the company requesting for transfer of the debentures to his name. The company had communicated to the applicant that, as...
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