Sanjib Banerjee, J. - (1.) THE applicants question the extent of the authority available to a company Judge under Section 535 of the Companies Act, 1956 and cite the constitutional provisions pertaining to distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the States in suggesting that an order of January 22, 2013 passed on a disclaimer application was in excess of the company court's jurisdiction.
(2.) WHEN this application was received on March 13, 2013 along with two other similar applications, it was noticed that the applicants claimed to have been dispossessed from areas under their occupation on the second floor of premises No. 14 Netaji Subhas Road, Calcutta - 700001. It was the common case of all three lots of applicants that they had no notice of the proceedings that culminated in the order of January 22, 2013. Such order was made on an application under Section 535 of the Act and the relevant part of the operative portion of the order read as follows: "So far the balance area of 1030 sq. ft. is concerned no one intervened nor there is any objection by anyone. Therefore, the Official Liquidator is also directed to remove trespassers if any from the said area of 1030 sq. ft. and hand over vacant possession to the applicant. In the event, the Official Liquidator requires any police assistance for vacating the said 1030 sq. ft. area, he will seek police assistance from the concerned Police Station and the Officer -in -Charge of the concerned Police Station is directed to render all assistance to the Official Liquidator." The applicant in the proceedings in the nature of disclaimer was one PDGD Investments & Trading (P) Ltd. It is such party which has opposed the present application.
(3.) THE order of March 13, 2013 passed at the time of receiving, inter alia, the present application noticed that the minutes prepared by the official liquidator on March 7, 2013 in course of taking possession of the said 1030 sq. ft area referred to in the order dated January 22, 2013 recorded the name of one Saroj Chhajer to be in occupation of an area of 521 sq. ft at the said premises. The order of March 13, 2013 then noticed that the official liquidator had taken possession of the area under the applicants' possession with police assistance. It, prima facie, appeared to this court on March 13, 2013 that no notice had been issued to the applicants herein prior to an adjudication of these applicants' rights qua the area under their occupation and the applicants herein were dispossessed as a result of the order passed on January 22, 2013. Accordingly, the applicants herein were required to deposit a sum of Rs. 2 lakh with the official liquidator and a special officer was appointed to restore the applicants' possession of the 521 sq. ft area under their previous occupation upon such deposit being made. The official liquidator was directed to invest the sum of Rs. 2 lakh in a short -term deposit. The applicants were restrained from dealing with or disposing of or alienating or parting with possession of such area or any part thereof without the express leave of court and upon notice to PDGD Investments & Trading (P) Ltd, the applicant in CA No. 325 of 2010 which was the beneficiary of the order dated January 22, 2013.;