Companies Act, 1956
Sec 533 - Liabilities and rights of certain fraudulently
preferred persons.
(1) Where, in the case of a company which is
being wound up, any thing made, taken or done after the commencement of this
Act is invalid under section 531 as a fraudulent preference of a person
interested in property mortgaged or charged to secure the company's debt, then
(without prejudice to any rights or liabilities arising apart from this
provision), the person preferred shall be subject to the same liabilities, and
shall have the same rights, as if he had undertaken to be personally liable as
surety for the debt, to the extent of the mortgage or charge on the property or
the value of his interest, whichever is less.
(2) The value of the said person's interest
shall be determined as at the date of the transaction constituting the
fraudulent preference, and shall be determined as if the interest were free of
all encumbrances other than those to which the mortgage or charge for the
company's debt was then subject.
(3) On any application made to the Court with
respect to any payment on the ground that the payment was a fraudulent
preference of a surety or guarantor, the Court shall have jurisdiction to
determine any questions with respect to the payment arising between the person
to whom the payment was made and the surety or guarantor and to grant relief in
respect thereof, notwithstanding that it is not necessary so to do for the
purposes of the winding up, and for that purpose may give leave to bring in the
surety or guarantor as a third party as in the case of a suit for the recovery
of the sum paid.
This sub-section shall apply, with the
necessary modifications, in relation to transactions other than the payment of
money as it applies in relation to payments of money.