I.P. Mukerji J. - (1.) THIS is a winding up application coming up for admission after filing of affidavits.
(2.) THE petitioning creditor is a dealer of coal. This claim is on account of unpaid price of coal sold and delivered by him to the company. The exact dates of sale and delivery are not available but the invoices raised with regard to such supply are mentioned in paragraph 6 of the petition. The company had two tea estates. One was Radharani Tea Estate and the other Krishna Kali Tea Estate. In the above paragraph of the petition 34 invoices are mentioned. They relate to supply of coal to Radharani Tea and Estate. In the latter part of the same paragraph, 8 invoices, relating to supply of coal to Krishna Kali Tea Estate are mentioned. According to the petitioning creditor the total price payable to him on account of supply of coal to Radharani Tea Estate is Rs. 9,73,042.69. For such supply to Krishna Kali Tea Estate it is Rs. 2,19,217.05. On June 10, 2010, a statutory notice was sent by the petitioning creditor to the company under section 434(a) of the Companies Act, 1956. It made exactly the total claim in paragraph 6 of the petition which is Rs. 11,92,359.74. This notice was replied to by the company by its letter dated August 9, 2010. Without giving any details as to how the claim was paid, the reply to the statutory notice simply stated that the company maintained statements of accounts between the parties and that the petitioning creditor had been paid. Hence, the petitioning creditor did not have any further claim against the company.
(3.) IN the affidavit -in -opposition various points, in defence to the claim have been taken. They were also urged at the time of hearing of this application by learned counsel for the company. Learned counsel for the petitioning creditor showed me three documents. The first is dated February 7, 2005, signed by the director (secretary) of the company acknowledging that Rs. 9,45,991.74 was due and payable by the company to the petitioning creditor. The second document is similar but dated May 6, 2006, signed by the same person and acknowledging the same amount. The third is dated August 23, 2008, signed by the manager (finance). He was a different person than the one who signed the earlier two documents. There the amount acknowledged was Rs. 9,61,460.74.;