Limitation in company liquidation runs to the winding-up order date, not the petition date, barring stale claims.

For claims against a company in liquidation, limitation runs until the winding-up order is made, not from the date of the winding-up petition. A debt already barred on the date of the winding-up order cannot be admitted in liquidation, and the doctrine of relation back does not suspend limitation from the petition date. The Court also clarified that Jwala Prasad had been misread below and did not treat the petition date as the operative date for limitation. The claim, being time-barred on the winding-up order date, could not be proved.

---

---

Issues: Whether, for proving a claim against a company in liquidation, limitation is to be computed with reference to the date of the winding-up order or the date of presentation of the winding-up petition.

Analysis: The claim was based on an advance made to the company more than three years before the winding-up order. The earlier authorities and text writers relied upon by the Court showed that limitation stops running only on the making of the winding-up order, and that a debt already barred on that date cannot be admitted in liquidation. The Court held that the earlier decision in Jwala Prasad was misread below and did not lay down that the petition date was the operative date for limitation. The doctrine of relation back was rejected as a basis for suspending limitation from the petition date.

Conclusion: The material date for limitation was the date of the winding-up order, not the date of the winding-up petition, and the claim was barred by time.

---