1 jpc/- IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION COMPANY APPLICATION NO. 540 OF 2009 IN COMPANY PETITION NO. 743 OF 1990 IN OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR'S REPORT NO. 203 OF 2008 Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. .. Applicant Versus The Official Liquidator of Mafatlal Engineering Industries Ltd. and others .. Respondents Mr. Berjis Colabawala a/w Ms. M. Mhapankar i/by V. Deshpande & Co. for the applicant Mr. Thakkar i/by Thakkar & Co. for Respondent No.3, Mr. Arun Siwach i/by A & M & S.A. Shroff & Co. for Respondent No.5 Mr.Aniruddha Lad i/by M/s Intra Legal for respondent No.6 Mr. D. Madon, Senior Counsel a/w Mr. Vinod Kothari a/w Mr. Sahil Sayed i/by Apex Law Partners for respondent No.6-A Mr. D.J. Khambatta, Addl. Solicitor General a/w Mr. S. K. Chari i/by M.V.Kini &Co. for Respondent No.7 Mr. Kirti Munshi a/w Mr. Vikash Kumar i/by A.T. Agarwal for Respondent No. 7A, Mr. N.M. Ganguli for Respondent No.8, Official Liquidator Present Mr. M.P.S. Rao for Punjab National Bank present. 2 CORAM : S. J. KATHAWALLA, J. DATE : 15 th April, 2010 P.C.: 1. By this application, the applicant Kotak Mahendra Bank has sought orders and directions of this Court against Respondent Nos. 6 and 7 and/or their Assignee(Respondent Nos. 6A and 7A) to bring back certain amounts allegedly paid to them in excess under the order dated 24th March, 2005 passed by the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and the order of this Court dated 23rd October, 2008. 2. According to the Applicant Respondent Nos. 6 and 7 and their Assignee have undertaken to bring back the said amount as and when called upon by this Court/the DRT. In response to a query raised by this Court as to the reason for the present application, though the first order was passed as far as back on 24th March, 2005, the learned Advocate appearing for the applicant has fairly submitted that the applicant has recently realised that certain excess amounts were erroneously paid to Respondent Nos. 6 and 7/their Assignee . 3. The learned Advocates appearing for Respondent Nos. 6, 6-A, 7 and 7-A have disputed the claim of the applicant and have submitted that the orders passed by the DRT as well as this Court and the undertakings given by their respective clients if any, to this Court, the DRT and the 3 Official Liquidator shall continue to be binding on them, until the sale proceeds of all the assets of the Company (in liquidation) are realised and final orders are passed. Without prejudice to their contention that the present Application filed before this Court is not maintainable, it is submitted that one of the immovable properties of the Company (in liquidation ) is till date not sold by the liquidator and upon sale of the said property, and proceeds realised therefrom, the liquidator may finalise the accounts and submit his report to this Court. It is submitted that once the liquidator has the final figures of the amounts available with him and the amounts which are required to be disbursed by him, the issue as to who should be paid what and who can be called upon to bring back the money as per the undertaking/s given can be decided by this Court/DRT. It is submitted that at present it should be the endeavour of all the parties to assist the Official Liquidator to carry out the sale of the immovable property of the Company (in liquidation) which he is unable to do in view of certain applications/reports pending before the learned Single Judges of this Court, thereby causing grave prejudice to the workers as well as creditors of the Company in liquidation. 4. In view thereof, I pass the following order. i. The Official Liquidator shall, after disposing of all the assets of the Company and realising the sale proceeds, file his report 4 before this Court seeking necessary directions. At the time of hearing of the said report, the parties shall be at liberty to advance their submissions/contentions/claims which shall be decided by this Court on merits. For that purpose all contentions of the parties are kept open. ii. Since it will be in the interest of the workers and creditors of the Company to dispose of the immovable property of the Company at the earliest, the parties hereto are at liberty to move an application before the Hon'ble the Chief Justice to have all the proceedings including reports of the Court Receiver pertaining to the said immovable property of the Company (in liquidation), pending before the learned Single Judges of this Court, transferred to the Court, taking Company matters. iii. Needless to add that the orders earlier passed by this Court/DRT qua the disbursements to the creditors/workers of the Company and the undertakings given by Respondent Nos.6, 6(A), 7 and 7(A) if any shall continue to be binding on the said respondents iv. The Company Application is accordingly disposed of. (S. J. KATHAWALLA, J.)