S.v.Srinivasulu, S/o. Venkataswamy v. The Official Liquidator, High Court, Madras as provisional liquidator of Maxworth Orchards (India)
Case brief
What is this about?
Madras High Court (Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy J., 22.01.2025) dismissed Comp.A.Nos.349 & 350 of 2021 in C.P.No.57 of 1998 seeking to set aside the court-confirmed auction sale (20.11.2020, confirmed 18.01.2021) of 134.81 acres in the winding up of Maxworth Orchards (India) Ltd. Key points: maintainability barred by abandoned earlier applications; power of attorney coupled with interest survives death of one principal (Ramaiah/GPA Document No.76/1996); applicant not a bona fide purchaser — vendor titles untraced, no antecedent documents, overlapping survey numbers already sold by the Company to customers; Company's GPA transaction protected by Suraj Lamp & Industries (P) Ltd. v. State of Haryana ((2009) 7 SCC 363; (2012) 1 SCC 656) exception; post-winding-up conveyances void under section 536(2) Companies Act 1956 without validation; sale deeds and mutation declared void; auction purchasers (Thanishq/Thanish Grande Hotels and Resorts; nominees S.Abiramaiah and N.Surya) free to mutate records. Useful for: section 536(2) void dispositions; GPA coupled with interest; bona fide purchase in company liquidation; sale certificate challenges; Official Liquidator auctions.