No 5222 of 1985
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India With Writ Petition Nos 443 and 754 of 1988 RK Garg SK Verma P Anshu Mishra and RS Singh for the Petitioners in Writ Petition No 5222 of 1985
GB Pai and SK Sinha for the Petitioners in Writ Petition No754 of 1988
K Parasaran Attorney General G Ramaswamy Additional Solicitor General Ms A Subhashini Probir Mitra and K Swamy for the Respondents
The following Order of the Court was delivered Workmen of Rohtas Industries Limited situated at Dalmi anagar in District Rohtas within the State of Bihar sent a letter addressed to Hon ble the Chief Justice of this Court on 8th of July 1985 alleging that the Company had four units namely paper and boards cement asbestos and vege table ghee plant the management closed down the industries with effect from 9th of September 1984 and have denied employment to about 10000 employees
It was prayed that there should be immediate restoration of electricity to the colony payment 618 of salary and wages for the period since closure should be directed and compensation as per the amendment to the Indus trial Disputes Act in 1984 and dues under the provident fund account gratuity etc
should also be directed to be paid
This letter was registered as a writ petition and notice was issued
In the meantime by order dated 225
1986 the Patna High Court appointed a Provisional Liquidator under the Companies Act
In the writ proceedings before this Court the employers the Provisional Liquidator the State of Bihar and the Union of India have in due course appeared
On 2741987 the Court made an interim order in the matter of payment of arrear wages by sale of assets
On 2271987 the Court took note of the fact that the proposal for restructuring of the Company was afoot in terms of its suggestion and stated that claims of the financial institu tions would be considered later
On October 28 1987 the Court stated This Court had issued notice to the Union of India and learned Attorney General to ascer tain if it is possible to revive the company which has suddenly gone sick
Learned Attorney General states that in the meantime which received assent of the President on 8th January 1986 has come into force and a Board in terms of section 4 thereof has now been constituted
He suggests that a reference may be made to that Board and the Board may be called upon to frame the Scheme as contemplat ed under section 18 of the Act for revival of the company and instead of allowing the Scheme to be dealt with further under the Act the Board may be called upon to submit its Report along with the Scheme for consideration of this Court
He also submits that in the spe cial facts of the case there is no necessity to subject the Scheme to a statutory appeal
Counsel for the petitioners agrees that an effort may be made as per the suggestion of the learned Attorney General
 The Central Government made a reference to the Board within one week as directed by the Court and the Board was given four months  time to frame the Scheme
On 791988 this Court took note of the fact that the State of Bihar was inclined for nationalisation of the Company
The Union of India filed an affidavit that if any proposal is mooted for nationalisation it would be supported
This Court stated in this order of 791988 619 On examining the matter in this background we are of the view that it is in the interest of everyone that the industrial establishment should be revived and sooner it is the better
In these circumstances we direct that a Committee with the Industries Secretary of the Union of India as its Chairman be immediately constituted to work out the modalities of nationalisation
The Committee should consist of the Secretary Industries Government of Bihar senior representatives of the creditor financial institutions Finance Secretary of Government of India or his representative and representative of Reserve Bank of India
The Committee should examine the matter and submit its report within six weeks     On 981989 the Court took note of the report by saying The report submitted to this Court indicates that three units excepting paper unit are viable and can be revived
On the 13th of December 1988 this Court considered the report and adjourned the matter to give an opportunity to the parties to explore the modalities of revival of the three viable units
No substantial progress has been made as we find
By the adjourned date the modali ties should be discussed and finalised and reported to the Court so that an order can be made to revive the three units
The report indicated that in regard to paper unit the Committee was not of the opinion that it was viable
Learned Attorney General and Mr Pal had been requested by the Court to explore the possibilities of revival of the paper unit
Ms Subhashini on behalf of the learned Attorney General states that given two weeks  time further discussions shall be held and a complete decision may be reached as regards the paper unit    A joint memorandum was filed by the Union of India and the State of Bihar on 1291989 which the Court rejected on account of the fact that there was no clear and definite indication in the memorandum as to revival
Thereafter the State of Bihar and the Union of India have filed their statements separately and a copy of the memorandum prepared by the learned Attorney General and circulated has also been filed before us
We have also heard learned counsel for the parties in the matter
620 It is not disputed that there is a huge amount of wages outstanding to the workmen
Several financial institutions have large dues to recover from the Company
The Trustees of the Debenture Trust Deeds have also sought to intervene in this Court to maintain their claim
Apart from these the owners of the Company have also pleaded that they are enti tled to compensation in the event of the properties of the Company being taken away by way of nationalisation
As already noted the Company has been closed down for more than five years now
A lot of assets are fast becoming useless and will soon become junk
Several attempts were made to dispose of some of the stocks held by the Official Liquidator but for one reason or the other it has not been possible to complete the sale and though this Court had directed that the sale proceeds would be utilised for pay ment of arrears wages that has not been feasible
Claims have been laid against the Company and are perhaps awaiting adjudication
If the Company is not revived and gets liqui dated the liabilities would turn out to be far in excess of the assets and notwithstanding first or second charge on the assets the creditors may not appreciably benefit
This Court cannot lose sight of the fact that living to about 10000 families had been denied for over five years and apart from national loss the workmen have been put to serious jeopardy
In these circumstances we are satisfied that it is of paramount importance that the Company in respect of the viable units should be revived and allowed to come into production
Unless there be a moratorium in regard to the liabilities of the Company for a reasonable time the attempt to revive the Company in respect of the three units is bound to be frustrated upon the intervention of the creditors whereas once the company is revived and big commercial activities are carried on profit is bound to be earned and a conscientious and prudent administration would certainly in due course provide adequate funds for satis faction of the debts
At present the question is one of priorities
It has to be prudently decided as to which ones should be allowed to go ahead and which should be made to wait
In this background and on the basis of the memoranda filed by the State of Bihar and the Union of India and the note prepared by learned Attorney General and made available to us by Mr Pal for the other side with the Attorney Gener al s consent we give the following directions 1
The State of Bihar shall appoint an authorised officer from the Senior IAS cadre with appropriate commercial back ground 621 to be the Rehabilitation Administrator
The Provisional Liquidator appointed by the High Court of Patna shall hand over to the Administrator all the assets of the Company which he has taken over under orders of the Court
Such assets of the Company which have not yet been taken over by the Provisional Liquidator shall upon the appropriate officer being designated vest in him forthwith and he is clothed with the necessary power under our present orders to take such steps as are necessary to take over possession of such assets of the Company
In the event of a dispute arising out of the decision of the Administrator that the asset is of the company and is to be taken over by the Administrator an appeal shall be maintainable before a Division Bench of the Patna High Court and the Judges to constitute such Bench shall be nominated by the learned Chief Justice
For convenience the same Judges shall contin ue on the nominated Bench for a reasonable period
The assets of the Company encumbered with financial and other institutions shall not be available to be proceeded against for a period of one year from today and there shall be a moratorium for a period of one year in regard to pro ceedings taken and pending or to be taken against the Compa ny hereafter and limitation shall remain suspended for the period under our orders of today
It would be open to the Court on being moved to extend the moratorium
The costs of the entire assets to be taken over by the State Government of Bihar as per the book value and the dues against the company are estimated to be within the limit of Rs 15 crores
The State Government of Bihar has undertaken before us to deposit the amount of Rs 15 crores with the Administrator within eight weeks from today
A similar amount of Rs 15 crores shall be advanced by the Union of India to the State of Bihar from out of plan assistance for the State
The sum of Rs 15 crores paid by the State Gov ernment shall be utilised in due course for payment of arrears of wages to the workers and for disbursement of secured loans of financial institutions and other parties for which security of the Company s assets had been fur nished
The Administrator shall open an account with the lead nationalised Bank for the State of Bihar operating at Dalmianagar into which the two sums of money being Rs 15 crores each shall be credited
622 5
The Administrator shall set up one Committee with a retired High Court Judge a retired District Judge and an Accounts Officer with at least five years  experience as Financial Advisor to the State Government to examine the claims of the owners of the Company and other parties in cluding financial institutions
This should be done within six months from now
Once the list of creditors is settled with all reasonable particulars the matter should be re ported to this Court for directions and it shall be open to this Court to finally indicate the figure at which each such claim shall be settled
An inventory of all the articles shall be made within four weeks from now
Steps shall be taken to form a new company within four weeks from now
Appointment of technical consultants and other competent officers shall be undertaken within two months hence
The asbestos cement and vanaspati plants shall be commissioned after effecting such repairs as may be neces sary
The retrenched employees shall come back to work in phases
The first phase shall admit a thousand workers the second phase shall admit an equal number and in the third phase such number of further workers as may be necessary to run the industries in a viable way shall be finalised
All expeditious steps as may be possible shall be taken to provide employment
Steps shall be taken to explore the viability of the paper unit within three months after the Company is re commissioned in respect of the three units
Liberty is given to the parties to apply in the event of necessity but it is made clear that no extension in regard to payment of the fifteen crores of rupees by the State Government and the Union Government shall be granted
Every attempt should be made by all concerned to give effect to the order keeping its true purport and spirit in view
We do not intend to leave doubts in any one s mind that the purpose of our order is to revive the Company and make it work viably
Everyone charged with the responsibility of implementing the order of the Court shall therefore be expected to work in such a way as would fulfil that purpose
We direct that the case shall remain pending in this Court and shall not be taken to have been disposed of by this order
Call the case on 1st of March 1990


Summary:
The appellant was tried along with P for the offence of murder
The prosecution case was that the appellant in conspiracy with P who was employed as a servant in the house of the deceased took advantage of the deceased being alone in the house with her child went upstairs and killed her and stole her ornaments while P remained downstairs with the child
The evidence upon which the prosecution relied for conviction consisted of the confession of P the statement of the appellant which led to the recovery of the ornaments belonging to the deceased from the possession of the mistress of the appellant the recovery of a blood stained dagger from his belongings at the police station and his conduct after the murder
The confession of P was later retracted by him in the Court of Session
It was contended for the appellant that a retracted confession of an accused cannot be used against his co accused Held that a voluntary and true confession made by an accused though it was subsequently retracted by him can be taken into consideration against a co accused by virtue Of section 30 of the Indian Evidence Act but as a matter of prudence and practice the court should not act upon it to sustain a conviction of the co accused without full and strong corroboration in material particulars both as to the crime and as to his connection with that crime
The amount of credibility to be attached to a retracted con fession would depend upon the circumstances of each particular case
Held further that on the evidence in the case the confes sion of P was voluntary and true and was strongly corroborated in material particulars both concerning the general story told in the confession concerning the crime and the appellant s connection with crime