Statutory wage claims must follow the special payment mechanism, and a winding-up creditor is not personally liable.

A creditor who merely sought winding up and advanced preliminary liquidation expenses could not be made personally liable for balance wages of workmen retained by the provisional liquidator for safeguarding the company's assets. The special acquisition statute provided an exclusive mechanism for employees' arrears: claims were enforceable against the company, had to be pursued before the Commissioner of Payments, and wages enjoyed statutory priority in distribution. The direction fastening wage liability on the creditor was therefore set aside, and the workmen were left to recover in accordance with the statutory scheme against the company.

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Issues: Whether the appellant, a creditor who had sought winding up of the company, could be directed to pay the balance wages of workmen retained by the provisional liquidator for the period before statutory vesting of the undertakings, or whether the workmen's remedy lay against the company and through the Commissioner of Payments under the special enactment.

Analysis: The appellant had initiated winding-up proceedings only as a creditor and had advanced funds for preliminary expenses connected with the winding up. The workmen were retained by the provisional liquidator for maintenance and safeguarding of the company's plant and machinery. Before the wages claimed had been paid in full, the undertakings of the company vested in the Central Government and then in the Corporation under the special acquisition statute. That statute created a specific mechanism for claims of arrears of wages and salary: such claims were enforceable against the company, had to be preferred before the Commissioner of Payments, and wages were accorded priority in distribution. In these circumstances, the appellant could not be saddled with liability for wages merely because the provisional liquidator had been appointed in the winding-up proceedings.

Conclusion: The direction requiring the appellant to pay the balance wages was set aside, and the workmen's claim was held recoverable only in accordance with the statutory scheme against the company through the Commissioner of Payments.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special acquisition statute provides an exclusive mechanism for payment of employees' arrears against the company and the Commissioner of Payments, a creditor who merely sought winding up and funded provisional expenses cannot be made personally liable for wages of workmen retained by the provisional liquidator.

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