- (1.) The wheel appears to have turned full circle for this industrial giant of a company whose name was once synonymous with automobile tyres. Dunlop India Limited today stands on the brink, its two manufacturing facilities not having functioned for years and its workers and employees imploring for their dues to come out of the assets of the company upon the company being wound up. Several other creditors have joined in the fray, particularly upon the facts pertaining to some of the company's valuable properties coming to light in an order of this court of March 26, 2012. Some of the creditors of the company who had bayed for blood leading up to the official liquidator being appointed as the provisional liquidator of the company by the order of March 26, 2012 are conspicuous either in their absence or in their silence; the two petitioning creditors whose petitions have been advertised have also taken a backseat, but that matters little since the matter has assumed a representative character and even if the original petitioning creditor abandons the claim or the proceedings any other creditor supporting the order of winding-up can be given carriage of the proceedings.
(2.) The mundane details relating to the several matters that appear in the list need first be recorded before the more meaningful assessment of the only issue as to whether the company should be wound up or not is taken up. CP No. 233 of 2008 appears to be the first of the several creditors' winding-up petitions filed against this company in the present lot of matters. Such petition was lodged on June 30, 2008. CP No. 295 of 2008 is the second of the petitions in the current crop filed against the company by a creditor. The petition has not been admitted; but the company says the dues of the creditor have been settled. The relevant creditor is not represented. CP No. 297 of 2008 is another, yet unadmitted petition. The company again says that the claim of the creditor has been settled, but the creditor is not represented. CP No. 304 of 2008 has not yet been admitted; the creditor is represented and the company has not settled the claim. CP No. 305 of 2008 is a creditor's petition where, according to the company, the claim has been settled; but the creditor is not represented. The petitioning creditor in CP No. 437 of 2008 supports the prayer for winding up the company, like the petitioning creditor in CP No. 304 of 2008. The company submits that the claims of the petitioning creditors in CP No. 278 of 2009, CP No. 279 of 2009, CP No. 308 of 2009 and CP No. 159 of 2011 have been settled, but the creditors are not represented. The claims of the creditors in CP No. 13 of 2009, CP No. 438 of 2009 and CP No. 73 of 2010 have not been settled and these creditors support the winding up of the company. CP No. 159 of 2011 is the most recent of the creditors' winding-up petitions filed against the company. It has been advertised but the company and the creditor say that the matter has been resolved and the creditor no longer seeks to proceed with the petition. In addition to the several petitions which have been taken up together, there are a number of applications in these matters which remain pending. CA No. 198 of 2012 is a creditor's application seeking intervention in one of the petitions which has been advertised. CA No. 410 of 2009, CA No. 28 of 2011, CA No. 110 of 2011, CA No. 111 of 2011 and CA No. 114 of 2011 are applications by the company that have now become infructuous. These applications were filed when the company enjoyed the protection under the West Bengal Relief Undertakings (Special Provisions) Act, 1972. The company no longer enjoys the immunity under such statute. CA No. 832 of 2011 is also an infructuous application since the company has sought recall therein of the order of admission relating to CP No. 159 of 2011, but the petition has long been advertised. CA No. 852 of 2011 and CA No. 609 of 2012 are applications by supporting creditors which ought only to have been filed by way of affidavits. CA No. 378 of 2012 has been brought by the workers of the company, primarily those employed at its Sahaganj unit. The latest application, CA No. 765 of 2012, is by the company seeking modification of certain subsisting orders to enable the company to pay off the dues of those creditors of the company with whom the company has apparently chosen to settle.
(3.) Upon affidavit directions being issued in CP No. 233 of 2008 on September 11, 2008, the matter went into hibernation following the company having been notified as a relief undertaking within the meaning of the West Bengal Relief Undertakings (Special Provisions) Act, 1972. Nearly three years after CP No. 233 of 2008 was instituted and the company had managed to postpone the inevitable, courtesy the said Act of 1972, the company accepted that pay-up time had arrived and the parties filed terms of settlement in court on May 4, 2011. The order receiving the terms of settlement noticed a clause therein that upon there being default of payment of any two consecutive instalments or the last instalment, the petition would be advertised in such newspapers that the court may direct by an order at the relevant time. Within six months of the order receiving the terms of settlement, the company had defaulted in successive months in making payment and the petitioning creditor was back in court to mention the matter on November 8, 2011. The company chose not to be represented despite notice. The petition was directed to be advertised. A second creditor's petition, CP No. 159 of 2011, was also advertised and came up before the company Judge at the post-advertisement stage on November 14, 2011. The company was represented and said that it no longer enjoyed the protection under either the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 or the said Act of 1972. The order of November 14, 2011 noticed that the matter had assumed a representative character and the company was restrained from dealing with or disposing of or alienating or encumbering any of its assets without the previous leave of court. The order recorded the company's admission that none of its industrial units was operational. The company, however, represented that it was making every endeavour to pay off its creditors, including its workers. All pending maters pertaining to the company were directed to appear on November 18, 2011.;