Creditor status must be affirmatively proved before winding up jurisdiction can be invoked.

A winding up petition may be invoked only where the petitioner is affirmatively shown to be a creditor within the meaning of the Companies Act. Where creditor status is seriously disputed and depends on proof of underlying debentures or a debenture trust deed alleged to be sham or fictitious, the Court need not resolve the dispute on affidavits alone and may refuse to exercise winding up jurisdiction. The claimant may be left to establish the debt in other proceedings. On the stated facts, the petitioners did not satisfy the Court that they were creditors entitled to maintain the winding up petition, and dismissal was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the appellants had affirmatively established that they were creditors entitled to present the winding up petition and obtain a winding up order.

Analysis: The petition rested on the appellants' claim that they were trustees for debenture holders and therefore creditors of the company. That status was seriously disputed on the ground that the debentures and the debenture trust deed were sham or fictitious documents, and the dispute could not be safely resolved on affidavits alone. The Court held that before the machinery of winding up can be invoked, the petitioner must satisfy the Court that he is in fact a creditor within the meaning of the Companies Act. Where that foundational status is doubtful and requires independent proof, the Court may decline to make a winding up order and leave the claimant to establish the debt in other proceedings.

Conclusion: The appellants failed to establish their creditor status to the Court's satisfaction, so the winding up petition was rightly dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A winding up order cannot be made at the instance of a person claiming to be a creditor unless the Court is affirmatively satisfied that the petitioner is in fact a creditor entitled to invoke the winding up jurisdiction.

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