Statutory bar on winding-up proceedings under sick company law requires prior consent before filing can be entertained.

Section 22(1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 creates an overriding embargo on winding-up proceedings once an inquiry under section 16 is pending, a scheme is under preparation or implementation, or an appeal is pending. A winding-up petition filed after the commencement of such inquiry cannot be entertained without prior consent of the Board or the appellate authority, and the words "shall lie" were treated as requiring that consent before institution itself. The pendency of a later consent application, or the parties' lack of earlier knowledge, does not cure the defect. The filing is therefore incompetent ab initio.

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Issues: Whether a winding-up petition filed after the company had been declared a sick industrial company was maintainable without prior consent under section 22(1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985.

Analysis: Section 22(1) imposes a statutory embargo on the institution or further continuation of winding-up proceedings once an inquiry under section 16 is pending, a scheme under section 17 is under preparation or consideration, a sanctioned scheme is under implementation, or an appeal under section 25 is pending. The bar operates notwithstanding the Companies Act, 1956 and any other law, and the words "shall lie" were treated as meaning that such proceedings cannot be entertained without the requisite prior consent of the Board or the appellate authority, as the case may be. Since the petition was filed after the commencement of the inquiry under section 16 and without prior consent, the filing itself was held to be incompetent, and the subsequent pendency of any application for consent or the parties' lack of earlier knowledge was held to be irrelevant.

Conclusion: The winding-up petition was not maintainable and was barred by section 22(1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985.

Final Conclusion: The petition could not be entertained in law in the absence of prior consent under the special statute, and the proceeding was therefore dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an inquiry under section 16 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 is pending, winding-up proceedings against the industrial company cannot be entertained without prior consent of the Board or appellate authority, and any such filing is void ab initio because of the overriding statutory bar.

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