Plain meaning of Section 19 limits "other authority"; PSU trade creditor and unpaid sale price are not rehabilitation finance.

Section 19 of the Sick Industrial Companies Act was construed on its plain language, and "other authority" was confined to entities contemplated by the rehabilitation scheme as providers of financial assistance. The court rejected importing the wider Article 12 or Article 226 meaning of "State" or "authority". A public sector undertaking that was merely a creditor in an ordinary sale-of-goods transaction was therefore not covered, and unpaid sale consideration did not amount to loans, advances, guarantees, reliefs, concessions or sacrifices of the kind contemplated by the provision. The challenge to the AAIFR order succeeded and the writ petition was allowed.

---

---

Issues: Whether a public sector undertaking that is only a creditor in a pure commercial supply transaction falls within "other authority" under section 19(1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 and is therefore entitled to circulation of the rehabilitation scheme and deemed consent under section 19(2); and whether the unpaid price for goods supplied can be treated as financial assistance by way of loans, advances, guarantees, reliefs, concessions or sacrifices.

Analysis: The statutory language of section 19(1) was held to be clear and controlling, so there was no warrant to import the broader meaning of "State" or "other authority" from Article 12 or the public-duty approach under Article 226. The expression "other authority" was read in the context of the immediately preceding categories and the scheme of section 19 as a whole, and the listed entities were treated as those who may be called upon to provide rehabilitation finance or concessions. The bracketed phrase in section 19(1) was understood as a defining clause for "the person required by the scheme to provide financial assistance". On that construction, a creditor arising only from a sale of goods transaction did not become "other authority" merely because it was a public sector undertaking. The unpaid sale consideration was also not financial assistance in the form contemplated by the provision, since the words loans, advances and guarantees are followed by reliefs, concessions and sacrifices of the same genus.

Conclusion: The public sector undertaking was not entitled to be treated as "other authority" under section 19(1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, and the unpaid price for goods supplied did not amount to financial assistance under that provision. The challenge to the AAIFR order succeeded, and the writ petition was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 19 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 must be construed according to its plain language, and "other authority" in section 19(1) is confined by the statutory context and ejusdem generis with the specified rehabilitation financiers; a PSU engaged only in an ordinary commercial supply transaction does not acquire that status, nor does unpaid sale consideration constitute financial assistance within section 19.

---