Companies Act, 1956

Sec 454 - Statement of affairs to be made to Official Liquidator.

(1) Where the Court has made a winding up order or appointed the Official Liquidator as provisional liquidator, unless the Court in its discretion otherwise orders, there shall be made out and submitted to the Official Liquidator a statement as to the affairs of the company in the prescribed form, verified by an affidavit, and containing the following particulars, namely :-

(a) the assets of the company, stating separately the cash balance in hand and at the bank, if any, and the negotiable securities, if any, held by the company ;

(b) its debts and liabilities ;

(c) the names, residences and occupations of its creditors, stating separately the amount of secured and unsecured debts ; and in the case of secured debts, particulars of the securities given, whether by the company or an officer thereof, their value and the dates on which they were given ;

(d) the debts due to the company and the names, residences and occupations of the persons from whom they are due and the amount likely to be realized on account thereof ;

(e) such further or other information as may be prescribed, or as the Official Liquidator may require.

(2) The statement shall be submitted and verified by one or more of the persons who are at the relevant date the directors and by the person who is at that date the manager, secretary or other chief officer of the company, or by such of the persons hereinafter in this sub-section mentioned, as the Official Liquidator, subject to the direction of the Court, may require to submit and verify the statement, that is to say, persons--

(a) who are or have been officers of the company ;

(b) who have taken part in the formation of the company at any time within one year before the relevant date ;

(c) who are in the employment of the company, or have been in the employment of the company within the said year, and are, in the opinion of the Official Liquidator, capable of giving the information required ;

(d) who are or have been within the said year officers of, or in the employment of, a company which is, or within the said year was, an officer of the company to which the statement relates.

(3) The statement shall be submitted within twenty-one days from the relevant date, or within such extended time not exceeding three months from that date as the Official Liquidator or the Court may, for special reasons, appoint.

(4) Any person making, or concurring in making, the statement and affidavit required by this section shall be allowed, and shall be paid by the Official Liquidator or provisional liquidator, as the case may be, out of the assets of the company, such costs and expenses incurred in and about the preparation and making of the statement and affidavit as the Official Liquidator may consider reasonable, subject to an appeal to the Court.

(5) If any person, without reasonable excuse, makes default in complying with any of the requirements of this section, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for every day during which the default continues, or with both.

(5A) The Court by which the winding up order is made or the provisional liquidator is appointed, may take cognizance of an offence under sub-section (5) upon receiving a complaint of facts constituting such an offence and trying the offence itself in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (5 of 1898), for the trial of summons cases by magistrates.

(6) Any person stating himself in writing to be a creditor or contributory of the company shall be entitled, by himself or by his agent, at all reasonable times, on payment of the prescribed fee, to inspect the statement submitted in pursuance of this section, and to a copy thereof or extract there from.

(7) Any person untruthfully so stating himself to be a creditor or contributory shall be guilty of an offence under section 182 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860) ; and shall, on the application of the Official Liquidator, be punishable accordingly.

(8) In this section, the expression "the relevant date" means, in a case where a provisional liquidator is appointed, the date of his appointment, and in a case where no such appointment is made, the date of the winding up order.

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