Application by prospective asset purchasers seeking private sale of company assets. Court dismissed relief as impermissible, allowing participation in official auction instead.
Relief for private sale denied; liberty to participate in official auction granted.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR COMPANY APPLICATION No.969 of 2013
ORDER:
This Company Application is moved by the applicants, who intend to purchase part of the assets of the Company. It appears that the said assets were brought to sale by the Official Liquidator in pursuance of the orders of this Court and, out of the offers received, including that of the present applicants being well short of the reserve price, none of the said offers were considered, and the sale was cancelled. Subsequently, the applicants approached the secured creditor (second respondent herein) and had given an offer of Rs.2,93,00,000/- under letter dated 12.06.2013 which is above the reserve price/upset price fixed at the time of sale earlier advertised. The applicants appear to have approached this Court earlier with a similar request in C.A.No.694 of 2013. The said application was, however, disposed of, by order dated 23.07.2013, giving liberty to the applicants to await the orders to be passed by the Official Liquidator on their application and, then, approach the appropriate forum. Alleging that no action has been taken by the Official Liquidator with regard to disposal of the said assets, the present application is filed.
Sri M.Anil Kumar, Learned Counsel representing the Official Liquidator, states that fresh steps are already taken for sale of the assets of the Company and C.A.No.1038 of 2013 has already been filed seeking directions in that regard, and that application is also listed for hearing today.
In view of the admitted position that the applicants are only prospective purchasers interested in purchasing some of the assets of the Company, the relief sought for, in the present
application, however, amounts to seeking private sale from the Official Liquidator, which is not permissible. The relief sought for, therefore, is misconceived. However, the applicants are at liberty to participate as and when the Official Liquidator proceeds with the sale of the said assets. The Official Liquidator shall also issue notice to the applicants as and when the offers are being considered, and the applicants are also free to participate in any such auction.
With these observations, the Company Application stands disposed of.
VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR,J
Date: 26.09.2013 usd
Vilas V.Afzulpurkar
Official Liquidator
Secured Creditor
Vilas V.Afzulpurkar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
