Disputed carrier liability cannot support winding up where negligence and damages require trial evidence, not summary enforcement.

A winding up petition is not maintainable where the alleged debt arises from a bona fide dispute and liability is unascertained. In a carrier-loss claim, liability under the Carriers Act depends on proof of loss or damage caused by negligence or criminal act, and although section 9 shifts the burden of proving negligence, the claim still requires evidence where negligence, loss and quantum are disputed. A surveyor's report or mere assertion of loss does not create an admitted debt. The claim must therefore be pursued in the civil forum rather than through winding up proceedings.

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Issues: Whether a winding up petition under sections 433 and 434 of the Companies Act, 1956 was maintainable where the alleged debt arose from a disputed carrier liability requiring proof of negligence or loss in a civil trial.

Analysis: Liability of a common carrier under sections 8 and 9 of the Carriers Act, 1865 depends on loss or damage caused by the carrier's negligence or criminal act, while section 9 shifts the burden of proof and relieves the claimant from proving negligence. A winding up petition lies only where there is a debt due or an ascertained liability. Where the carrier disputes liability and the issue of negligence, loss, and quantification of damages requires evidence and adjudication, the claim remains contested. In such circumstances, the report of a surveyor or the assertion of loss does not by itself establish an admitted debt, and the existence of a bona fide dispute excludes the remedy of winding up.

Conclusion: The winding up petition was not maintainable because no ascertained debt or admitted liability was shown, and the dispute had to be tried in the civil forum.

Final Conclusion: The petitioner was left to pursue its claim in the appropriate forum, and the company petition was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A winding up petition cannot be used to enforce a disputed claim where liability is unascertained and depends on issues of negligence and damages that require trial evidence rather than summary determination.

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