Section 299: Power to summon persons suspected of having property of company, etc
This section gives the Tribunal power to investigate and recover company property and debts by summoning and examining individuals and ordering them to pay or deliver what they owe.
The section, clause by clause
What the section says
In plain terms
(1)The Tribunal may, at any time after the appointment of a provisional liquidator or the passing 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 Tribunal thinks to be capable of giving information concerning the promotion, formation, trade, dealings, property, books or papers, or affairs of the company.
The Tribunal can summon anyone suspected of having company property, books, or papers, or who may owe the company money, or anyone who can provide information about the company, at any time after a provisional liquidator is appointed or a winding up order is passed.
(2)The Tribunal may examine any officer or person so summoned on oath concerning the matters aforesaid, either by word of mouth or on written interrogatories or on affidavit and may, in the first case, reduce his answers to writing and require him to sign them.
The Tribunal can question the summoned person under oath, either in person, through written questions, or on affidavit, and can record and have them sign their answers.
(3)The Tribunal may require any officer or person so summoned to produce any books and papers relating to the company in his custody or power, but, where he claims any lien on books or papers produced by him, the production shall be without prejudice to such lien, and the Tribunal shall have power to determine all questions relating to that lien.
The Tribunal can require the summoned person to produce company books and papers, and can determine any disputes over liens on those documents.
(4)The Tribunal may direct the liquidator to file before it a report in respect of debt or property of the company in possession of other persons.
The Tribunal can direct the liquidator to file a report about company debt or property in the possession of others.
(5)If the Tribunal finds that—
If the Tribunal finds that someone owes the company money or has company property, it can order them to pay the debt or return the property, with or without costs, and on terms it considers just.
(5)(a)a person is indebted to the company, the Tribunal 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 the Tribunal may consider just, the amount in which he is indebted, or any part thereof, either in full discharge of the whole amount or not, as the Tribunal thinks fit, with or without costs of the examination;
(5)(b)a person is in possession of any property belonging to the company, the Tribunal 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 the Tribunal may consider just.
(6)If any officer or person so summoned fails to appear before the Tribunal at the time appointed without a reasonable cause, the Tribunal may impose an appropriate cost.
If a summoned person fails to appear without a good reason, the Tribunal can impose costs.
(7)Every order made under sub-section (5) 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).
Orders to pay money or deliver property are enforced like court decrees under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
(8)Any person making any payment or delivery in pursuance of an order made under sub-section (5) 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.
Anyone who makes a payment or delivery under such an order is discharged from liability for the debt or property, unless the order says otherwise.
The right-hand column is written from the section text, not quoted from it, and it has no legal force. Where the two differ, the left-hand column is the law.
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Reproduced from the official India Code print for reference. Check the current text on India Code before you rely on it, and read the section alongside its Rules. Nothing here is legal advice.