Admitted commission debt and RBI approval issue: liability could not be denied where the debtor failed to seek permission.

An admitted commission debt remained recoverable notwithstanding the company's objection that remittance required Reserve Bank of India approval. The correspondence showed acceptance of the petitioning creditor's role in procuring and negotiating the export contract, and the company acknowledged that commission was payable. The court treated regulatory approval as a step the company itself had to pursue and rejected the attempt to deny liability on that basis, especially where no bona fide effort to obtain permission was shown. Objections based on incomplete export performance and the absence of a quantified rupee demand also failed, because the debt was ascertainable and admitted. The winding-up petition was therefore maintainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the winding-up petition was maintainable on the basis of an admitted commission debt, notwithstanding the objection that remittance required Reserve Bank of India approval and the company's assertion of no bona fide liability dispute.

Analysis: The correspondence between the parties showed that the company had accepted the petitioning creditor's role in procuring and negotiating the export contract and had acknowledged the commission payable for the transaction. The company also indicated that remittance would be made after Reserve Bank of India approval, which made the regulatory permission a matter to be obtained by the company and not a basis to deny the debt. The objections based on incomplete performance of the export contract and absence of quantified rupee demand were rejected as the debt remained ascertainable and admitted. The Court further found that the company had not produced any material to show a bona fide effort to obtain the necessary permission and could not rely on its own default to defeat the claim.

Conclusion: The petitioning creditor's debt was held to be admitted and due, the company's defence was not bona fide, and the winding-up petition was maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An admitted debt cannot be converted into a bona fide disputed debt merely because payment is said to depend on regulatory permission that the debtor itself was bound to seek and failed to obtain.

---