Aftab Alam, J. - (1.) The appellant is a private limited company incorporated and registered under the Companies Act. It seeks to challenge two recovery certificates issued by the Managing Director of the U.P. Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (a government corporation) in purported exercise of power under Section 3 of the U.P. Public Moneys (Recovery of Dues) Act, 1972. Challenging the two recovery certificates, the appellant filed a writ petition (Civil Misc. 20 of 2001) before the Allahabad High Court which was dismissed by a division bench of the Court by judgment and order dated April 26, 2001. Against the High Court judgment, the appellant has come in appeal by grant of special leave.
(2.) The Managing Director of the Corporation drew up the two identical recovery certificates and sent them to the District Magistrate, Lucknow, stating that the Directors of the appellant company had received from the Corporation's Dadanagar depot 1027.15 MT wire rods (iron and steel) worth Rs. 1,54,93,421/- (Rupees one crore fifty four lakhs ninety three thousand four hundred twenty one only). But the payment of the goods had not been made to the Corporation and it was to be recovered from the persons (named in the recovery certificates as the company's Directors) together with interest. Paragraphs 1 and 3 of the recovery certificate are relevant for the present and are reproduced below: 1. Till 30.11.2000 a sum with interest of Rs. 1,79,03,848=00 (Rupees one crore seventy nine lakhs three thousand eight hundred and forty eight only) has been due to the defaulter M/s A.P.T. Ispat Pvt. Ltd. and the said sum has to be recovered from the defaulter. 3. In accordance with the Government Order No. 12/3/7704/Revenue-7 dated 13.11.75 send the amount recovered from the defaulter by a bank draft drawn in favour of the Corporation (U.P. Small Industries Corporation Limited, Kanpur) to his office.
(3.) It is significant to note that on the same day the Regional Manager of the Corporation, Kanpur region, submitted a written report to the Senior Police Officer, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur. On the basis of the written report, a First Information Report was instituted giving rise to a substantive criminal case under various sections of the Penal Code against the persons named in it. In the written report it was stated that since the year 1994-95 M/s Anuj Steels whose proprietor was Anuj Tandon S/o Shri Durga Prasad Tandon was appointed by the Corporation as its Sales Coordinator for the purposes of selling iron and steel from the Corporation's Dadanagar godown at Kanpur as a raw material to small SCALE industries. According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the Coordinator booked the demand for iron and steel as might be required by the small SCALE industrial units with the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL). The SAIL would then dispatch the booked quantity of iron and steel either from its stockyard or by railway either on unsecured credit or on the deposit of money by the Coordinator. The Coordinator lifted the goods, through its Handling Contractor, either from the SAIL stockyard or from the railway siding and brought it to the UPSIDC godown at Dadanagar. The Coordinator was also responsible for selling the iron and steel bought from the SAIL to the small SCALE industrial units after depositing its value in the depot or in the regional office of Corporation.;