Companies Act, 1956
Sec 477 - Power to summon persons suspected of
having property of company, etc.
(1) The Court may, at any time after the
appointment of a provisional liquidator or the making of a winding up order,
summon before it any officer of the company or person known or suspected to
have in his possession any property or books or papers, of the company, or
known or suspected to be indebted to the company, or any person whom the Court
deems capable of giving information concerning the promotion, formation, trade,
dealings, property, books or papers, or affairs of the company.
(2) The Court may examine any officer or
person so summoned on oath concerning the matters aforesaid, either by word of
mouth or on written interrogatories ; and may, in the former case, reduce his
answers to writing and require him to sign them.
(3) The Court may require any officer or
person so summoned to produce any books and papers in his custody or power
relating to the company ; but, where he claims any lien on books or papers produced
by him, the production shall be without prejudice to that lien, and the Court
shall have jurisdiction in the winding up to determine all questions relating
to that lien.
(4) If any officer or person so summoned,
after being paid or tendered a reasonable sum for his expenses, fails to appear
before the Court at the time appointed, not having a lawful impediment (made
known to the Court at the time of its sitting and allowed by it), the Court may
cause him to be apprehended and brought before the Court for examination.
(5) If, on his examination, any officer or
person so summoned admits that he is indebted to the company, the Court may
order him to pay to the provisional liquidator or, as the case may be, the
liquidator at such time and in such manner as to the Court may seem just, the
amount in which he is indebted, or any part thereof, either in full discharge
of the whole amount or not, as the Court thinks fit, with or without costs of
the examination.
(6) If, on his examination, any such officer
or person admits that he has in his possession any property belonging to the
company, the Court may order him to deliver to the provisional liquidator or,
as the case may be, the liquidator, that property or any part thereof, at such
time, in such manner and on such terms as to the Court may seem just.
(7) Orders made under sub-sections (5) and (6)
shall be executed in the same manner as decrees for the payment of money or for
the delivery of property under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ( 5 of 1908),
respectively.
(8) Any person making any payment or delivery,
in pursuance of an order made under sub - section (5) or sub-section (6) shall
by such payment or delivery be, unless otherwise directed by such order,
discharged from all liability whatsoever in respect of such debt or property.