Companies Act, 1956
Sec 104
- Liability of members in respect of reduced shares.
(1) A member of the company, past or present,
shall not be liable, in respect of any share, to any call or contribution
exceeding in amount the difference, if any, between the amount paid on the
share, or reduced amount, if any, which is to be deemed to have been paid
thereon, as the case may be, and the amount of the share as fixed by the minute
of reduction :
Provided that, if any creditor entitled in
respect of any debt or claim to object to the reduction of share capital is, by
reason of his ignorance of the proceedings for reduction or of their nature and
effect with respect to his debt or claim, not entered on the list of creditors,
and after the reduction the company is unable, within the meaning of section
434, to pay the amount of his debt or claim, then
(a) every person who was a member of the
company at the date of the registration of the order for reduction and minute,
shall be liable to contribute for the payment of that debt or claim an amount
not exceeding the amount which he would have been liable to contribute if the
company had commenced to be wound up on the day immediately before the said
date ; and
(b) if the company is wound up, the Court, on
the application of any such creditor and proof of his ignorance as aforesaid,
may, if it thinks fit, settle accordingly a list of persons so liable to
contribute, and make and enforce calls and orders on the contributories settled
on the list, as if they were ordinary contributories in a winding up.
(2) Nothing in this section shall effect the
rights of the contributories among themselves.