become a sick industrial company (Section 15(1) of SICA), or the Central Government or Reserve Bank or a State Government or a public financial institution or a state level institution or a scheduled bank (Section 15(2) of SICA). Regulation 19 of BIFR Regulations deals with the procedural aspects of registration of a reference. A reference under Section 15(1) is required to be made in Form “A” prescribed under the Regulations, whilst a reference under Section 15(2) is made in Form 'B'. (There are other similar forms for Government Companies.) After receipt of the forms with their enclosures, the same are scrutinized by the Board's office. If the reference is found to be in order, it is duly registered by assigning a cause number and then put up before the Bench to which the case may be assigned by the Chairman of the Board in exercise of the powers conferred on him under Regulation 16. On the other hand, if a reference is defective, it is declined registration by the Secretary of the Board, or, as the case may be, by the Registrar. (In actual practice, the decision to register or decline registration is taken by the Registrar.) An appeal against the order of the Registrar declining to register a reference lies before the Secretary, whilst an appeal against the Secretary's order declining to register a reference is made before the Chairman (Regulations 19(8)(1) and (2) of the Regulations.) A reference declined to be registered is deemed not to have been made (Regulation 19(7) of the Regulations). Registration of the reference is, thus, crucial, since the next stage, namely, the inquiry under Section 16, does not commence without such registration. As held by the Supreme Court in the case of Real Value Appliances Ltd. Vs. Canara Bank1 , once the reference is registered after scrutiny, it is mandatory for the BIFR to conduct an inquiry and accordingly, an inquiry is treated as having commenced as soon as the registration of the reference is completed after scrutiny. It is from that time that actions against the Company's assets and suits for recovery of money against the company are stayed under Section 22. In other words, between the date of physical filing of a reference under Sections 15(1) or 15(2) and its registration, there is no question of pendency of an inquiry under Section 16(1). The proceedings before the Registrar, Secretary or Chairman of the Board, as the case may be, are all pre-registration stages. There is no application of Section
