- (1.) M. C. Jain, J. M/s. Hindi Housing and Construction Ltd. (hereinafter referred as the Company in liquidation) was ordered to be wound up by this Court by order dated 16-4-1970 passed in Com pany Petition No. 18 of 1967. The Official Liquidator attached to this Court was ap pointed the Liquidator of the said com pany (in liquidation) as per Section 49 of the Companies Act. The Liquidator took possession of moveable assets and record of the company through District Magistrate, Lucknow. The company owned certain agricultural land in village Behsa and Mali, Pargana Bijnor, Tehsil and District Lucknow duly recorded in the relevant revenue records in the name of company (in liquidation ). The Official Liquidator sought permission of this Court through report No. 51 of 1983 to sell the landed property of the company (in liquidation ). By order dated 5-10-1983 this Court granted such permission to the Offi cial Liquidator. When the Official Liqui dator got the revenue records verified on 7-3-1988, it transpired that the entire land left over in the aforesaid villages belonging to the company (in liquidation) had been acquired by ADM (Acquisition)/competent Authority, Land Ceiling, vide order and judgment dated 6-1-1988 in case No. 1/2/12/32/94 of 1987-88,state v. Ram Chandra Gurnani, under the U. P. Imposi tion of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 the Official Liquidator then made an ap plication to this Court complaining that the entire proceedings under the U. P. Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 were null and void and without juris diction for the reason that after the wind ing up orders, the property in question belonging to company (in liquidation) had come in the custody of the Court and were thus custodia legis through the Official Liquidator. No proceedings under the aforesaid Ceiling Act of 1960 could take place without the permission of this Court under Section 446 of the Companies Act.
(2.) BY order dated 27-7-1994 this Court allowed the application of the Offi cial Liquidator whereby the order dated 6-1-1988 declaring the land of the com pany (in liquidation) as surplus was quashed with the result the said land was to be deemed to be belonging to the company (in liquidation) under the custody of the Court through Official Liquidator. The above is the background concerning the application A-16, made by 4 applicants, namely, Kailash Nath Bajpai, Amitabh Adhar, Radha Krishna Gupta and Mahendra Kumar. The company (in liquidation), Ad ditional Tehsildar, Sadar Lucknow, Sub-Divisional Officer, Lucknow and the Com missioner, Lucknow have been arrayed as respondents. The case, as set up by the applicants is that the winding up order had been passed by this Court on 16-4-1970 on a petition having been filed by M/s. Krish na Brick Field, Allahabad. The company filed Special appeal No. 364 of 1970 in which stay order was passed on 22-4-1970, staying the operation of the winding up order which was confirmed on 2-11-1970. But the special appeal in question bearing Appeal No. 364 of 1970 was dismissed in default on 13-7-1973 and the application filed to restore the same was also dismissed on 20-7-1974. The winding up petition had been filed on 12-12-1967. Thus, in fact there was no effective winding up order upto 13-7-1973. On 2-2-1972 Seth Hiranand Ram Chandra Gurnani, the then Managing Director executed three sale-deeds in favour of Kailash Nath Baj pai, Amitabh Adhar and Kishor Saran. Another sale-deed dated 4-2-1972 was ex ecuted in favour of Sita Ram. The present applicants Nos. 1 and 2 and predecessors of applicants 3 and 4 were bona fide purchasers for valuable consideration without any notice or knowledge of winding up proceed ings pending against the company. To come to the point their contention is that after the setting aside of the order of the ceiling authority dated 6-1 - 1988 whereby the land of the company (in liquidation) had been declared surplus, the position as it stood before 6-1-1988 has to be restored. They made an application for mutation, which was rejected by Respondent No. 2 on 3-7-1998 on the ground that the vendor (com pany in liquidation) did not have the title to sell the land. The relevant prayers made b\ the applicants are the following: (a-1) Top issue suitable direction to Respondent Nos. 2and 3 for restoring the name of company in all revenue records as per the directions, contained in the judg ment and order of this Hon'ble Court dated 27-7-1994. (b) To issue a suitable direction for mutation of the applicants' names in the relevant revenue records and Khatauni in respect of land situated in village Mali, Pargana Bijnor, Tehsil and District Luck-now after expunging the entry 'under CEILING ACT, ADDITIONAL DECLARED LAND. ' and restoring the position as existing before 6-1-1988. "
(3.) THE Official Liquidator has filed counter-affidavit A-17, narrating the his tory of the case. He has also filed as Annexure 7 to his counter-affidavit a copy of the order dated 13-8-1998 passed by the Additional District Magistrate (Supp-ly)/prescribed Authority (Ceiling), Luck-now in case No. 3 of 97-98, rejecting the application of the applicants dated 24-3-1998 for correction of papers. Rejoinder-affidavit A-18 has been filed by the ap plicant Radha Krishna Gupta.;