Allowed

The Official Liquidator v. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board

Madras HC14 Aug 2020COMP.A/241/2019

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Court considered an application by the Official Liquidator seeking refund of a security deposit held by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for a liquidated company. While the Board offered a 18% interest claim only without actual interest payment, the Court directed the Board to refund Rs. 3,00,000 with interest at 7.5% per annum from December 22, 2017.

What did the court decide?

Directed TNEB to refund deposit of Rs. 3,00,000 with interest at 7.5% per annum from 22.12.2017 to date of realization.

The Official Liquidator Vs The Tamil Nadu Electricity… — Company and Corporate | Madras HC (2020)

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in CP No.255 of 2014

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in

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CP.No.255 of 2014

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M.SUNDAR.J.,

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Captioned application has been taken out by 'Official Liquidator

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attached to this Court' (hereinafter 'OL' for the sake of brevity), who is represented by the 'Deputy Official Liquidator Mr.Bhavishetty Sridhar'

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(hereinafter 'Deputy OL' for the sake of brevity).

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Electricity Board' ['TNEB' for brevity] and Deputy OL are before me in this

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web-hearing on a video-conferencing platform.

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company' for the sake of brevity) is a company under liquidation in the main

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company petition at the instance of petitioning creditor namely ICICI Bank Limited.

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It is not in dispute that said company is being wound up, OL has

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taken possession of the books, records and movable assets of said company.

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http://www.judis.nic.in 1/5

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in CP No.255 of 2014

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All this is articulated in paragraphs 2 to 4 of the report of OL filed in support

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of instant application and the same read as follows:

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'2. That pursuant to the directions contained in the provisional winding up the Official Liquidator took possession of the book and records and movable assets available at the registered office and two godowns of the company in Provisional Liquidation.

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3. The Official Liquidator submits that the Hon'ble High Court vide its order dated 06.02.2017 in C.A.No.791 of 2016 in C.P.No.255 of 2014 had directed the Official Liquidator to vacate the Registered Office Premises situated at No.749, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002 to the new premises situated at No.21, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.

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4. The Official Liquidator submit that as per the above said order the Official Liquidator had vacated the Registered Office of the subject Company in Liquidation and had issued letter dated 22.12.2017 to The Assistant Engineer, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, DPI Compound, College Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai-600 014 to refund the E.B Deposit Amount of Service No.131-001-068 in favour of “The Official Liquidator, High Court, Madras” at the earliest and the same was acknowledged by them on 27.12.2017 but no reply or payment was received till date.'

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Learned Deputy OL submits that OL has issued a reminder letter dated 11.12.2018 (reminder to 22.12.2017 letter) calling upon the respondent

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to refund the deposit amount for a service connection qua said company.

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in CP No.255 of 2014

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It is submitted by learned counsel for TNEB that a sum of Rs.3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakhs only) is lying in deposit. However, learned counsel submits that the prayer is for refund of the deposit with interest @ 18% per annum. Learned counsel for TNEB submits that the

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deposit can be refunded without interest.

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In other words, the issue in the instant application is narrowed down

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to whether the deposit should be refunded with interest or not.

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This Court carefully considered the fact setting of the instant matter.

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This Court has taken into account inter alia the fact that the deposit is not of a going concern, but of a company under liquidation; that the company under liquidation has collected deposits of varying amounts from various individuals and they are now in queue as creditors; that this Court is informed that such creditors qua said company are small depositors some of whom have put in their lifetime savings.

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Owing to all that have been set out supra, this Court is of the considered view that it would be appropriate to direct the respondent-TNEB

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in CP No.255 of 2014

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to refund the deposit of Rs.3,00,000/- together with interest @ 7.5% per annum from 22.12.2017 to the date of realisation. To be noted, this Court has taken 7.5% to be reasonable as this Court is informed that prevailing Reserve Bank of India rates for deposits is pegged at a rate in this region.

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Instant application is ordered on above terms.
14.08.2020
kmi

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http://www.judis.nic.in 4/5

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019 in CP No.255 of 2014

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M.SUNDAR.J

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kmi

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Comp.A.No.241 of 2019
in
CP.No.255 of 2014

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14.08.2020

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The Official Liquidator v. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

The Official Liquidator v. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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