- (1.) Lansdowne Jute Co. Ltd., originally incorporated on June 30, 1904, under the Indian Companies Act, 1882, under the name and style of the Arathoon Jute Mills Ltd., was renamed Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., in the year 1971. Birds and Co. P. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., was nationalised on October 25, 1980. Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineering took over part of the assets of Birds and Co. P. Ltd. It appears from paragraph 33 of an affidavit affirmed by Pummy Gupta and Siddharta Roy on January 8, 2008, in C.A. No. 27 of 2008 that upon nationalisation the jute division of Birds and Company P. Ltd., was renamed National Jute Manufacturers Corporation Ltd. The engineering division of Birds and Company P. Ltd., was renamed Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd. It further appears from the said affidavit that Heilgers P. Ltd. had business ties with Birds Company P. Ltd., prior to its nationalisation. After nationalisation the business which Birds and Company P. Ltd., carried on in combination with the said Heilgers P. Ltd., is alleged to have been assigned to the said Heilgers P. Ltd., and in that view of the matter the latter continued and still continues to use a portion of the registered office of Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd.
(2.) The holding company Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., was also nationalised and the same is now a subsidiary of National Jute Manufacturers Corporation Ltd., as would appear from an affidavit affirmed on April 28, 2006, by one Shri Pratyush Kumar Mitra in C.A. No. 283 of 2006. The said holding company, namely, Birds Jute and Exports Ltd., is now a sick company and is under the BIFR. Bharat Process and Mechanical Engineers Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the company in liquidation"), it appears from an affidavit of one Kamrujjaman Qamar and J. R. Khan affirmed on April 16, 2008, in C.A. No. 291 of 2008 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd., a Government of India undertaking, incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. It further appears from the said affidavit that the company in liquidation became sick and was referred to the BIFR in the year 1992. The BIFR appears to have recommended winding up of the company in the year 1996. The order of winding up was finally passed by brother A.K. Banerjee J. on July 27, 2004.
(3.) The assets and liabilities of the company in liquidation as far as ascertainable from the records may briefly be summarised as follows: (a) The workshop of the company is situate at premises No. 200 Dakhindari Road, Kolkata-700 048. The workshop including covered sheds and uncovered space, office rooms, assistants' quarters, staff quarters and quarters for mazdoor comprise of an area of 7,50,000 sq.ft. approximately held on long lease which however has already expired. The aforesaid landed property situate at Dakhindari Road which lies in between Ultadanga and Laketown on the way to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose airport is a very valuable property. At a very conservative assessment value of the said 7,50,000 sq. ft. is Rs. 75 crores at the rate of Rs. 1,000 per sq. ft. The actual value of the land may be more but this is the minimum price that I can think of taking judicial notice of the rate of land prevailing in the city of Kolkata. (b) The registered office of the company in liquidation is situate at premises No. 4. Netaji Subhash Chandra, Bose Road, Kolkata-1, which is the commercial hub of this city near the Reserve Bank of India which originally was also a lease held land with the right to sublet as would appear from the deed of lease dated December 18, 1962, a copy whereof is an annexure to the affidavit affirmed by Pammi Gupta and Siddharta Roy on January 8, 2008, filed in C.A. No. 27 of 2008. The relevant clause reads as follows: That the lessee shall not assign, sublet or part with the possession of the demised premises or any part thereof for the whole or any part of the said term provided that the lessee may, if necessary, sublet the whole or any part of the said premises No. 4, Netaji Subhas Road demised to and occupied by the lessee to respectable and responsible tenants approved in writing by the lessor. The lease originally was for a period of 5 years and a further lease for 5 years was executed and registered on December 8,1962. The company in liquidation admittedly is a monthly tenant on conditions governed by the registered document dated December 8, 1962. Therefore, the provisions of rent control legislation would apply to this tenancy which is thus protected under the rent control legislation. The rate of built up are a in the Netaji Subhash Road at a very conservative estimate of which I can take judicial notice, is not less than Rs. 20,000 per sq. ft. of actual carpet area. The measurement of the registered office of the company in liquidation is not available from the records made available to me but there can be no doubt that this office is also a very valuable property worth several crores. (c) The plant and machinery of the company in liquidation have been valued by engineers and valuers' collaboration at Rs. 40.81 crores in their report annexed to their letter dated October 27, 2008, a copy whereof is a part of annexure E to the affidavit affirmed by Shri Paresh Chandra Roy and Manik Lal Dutta on January 5, 2008, in C.A. No. 620 of 2008.;