Vijender Jain, J. - (1.) CM . No. 202 of 2007: The application is allowed and the affidavit of Shri Naresh Chatley filed along with it is taken on record. Company Appeal No. 16 of 2007: This is an appeal under section 483 of the Companies Act, 1956 (for short, 'the Act') for setting aside the order dated 1 March 2007 [Shree Dewan Steels (India) Ltd. (in liquidation) v. Central Bank of India : (2008) 2 Comp LJ 143 (P & H) : (2007) 139 Comp Cas 472 (P & H)], passed by the learned Company Judge in Company Applications Nos. 631 and 641 of 2006 and 127 of 2007.
(2.) THE facts of the case, in brief, are that one Kanav Steels (P) Ltd. was incorporated as a company under the Act on 11 February 1985. The name of the said company was changed to Shree Dewan Steels (India) Ltd. on 31 May 1990, which is the present company which went into liquidation vide order dated 10 February 1999 of the learned Company Judge. The official liquidator attached to this Court was appointed as its liquidator. The company in liquidation was deeply in debts. The Central Bank of India, one of its secured creditors, had also filed an application for recovery of the amount due to it before the Debts Recovery Tribunal, which was decided on 17 March 1999. Vide order dated 11 January 2006, the official liquidator was permitted to conduct the sale of immovable and moveable assets of the company in liquidation by associating the secured creditors and in pursuance of the said order, one Avtar Singh was found to be the highest bidder of the composite lot, having made bid for Rs. 5.2 crores. An application was filed by the official liquidator for confirmation of the sale, which was pending consideration before the learned Company Judge.
(3.) IN the meantime, a dispute was raked up by Rishi Steel Traders, Chatley Steels and Naresh Chatley. The crux of the dispute was that the land actually belonged to Chatley Steels and Shri Naresh Chatley. There was a fusion of interest between the two and there was no demarcation of any specific portion of the land and boundary wall existed in respect of the entire land measuring 36 kanals and 16 marlas. Rishi Steels filed a civil suit for declaration and further pleaded that it had got the possession of the, land in question through a civil court decree. Rishi Steels had also filed a separate civil suit for recovery of Rs. 2,93,000 against Chatley Steels which is a proprietorship concern with Naresh Chatley as its proprietor. Another suit for recovery of Rs. 6,25,000 was filed against the company prior to its liquidation. In execution of the decree passed against the proprietorship concern of Naresh Chatley, the land measuring 7 kanals and 19 marlas was attached before judgment. The suit against the proprietorship concern was decreed ex parte on 29 July 1998 and in execution of the said decree, a public notice was published on 17 July 1999, for the sale of land measuring 7 kanals and 19 marlas. In the auction held on 12 November 1999, 4 kanals of the aforesaid land was put to auction and the decree holder was the highest bidder, who gave the bid of Rs. 3,40,000. The sale was confirmed by the executing court on 18 December 1999 and a sale certificate was issued on 23 February 2000. Company Applications Nos. 631 and 641 of 2006 were filed by the shareholders, whereas Company Application No. 127 of 2007 was filed by Naresh Chatley through his attorney Shri Vibhu Raj Jhanji objecting to the sale of assets of the company in liquidation, which was conducted by the official liquidator.;