Extension of Notice Period permits late notice validation, allowing claimant to prove debt and liquidator to admit the claim.

Extension of the notice period under the Companies Act provision was held permissible in a proper case, and the period was extended to validate the late notice actually given. On the substantive issue, failure to prove a debt within the time fixed by a published notice results only in exclusion from distributions made before the debt is proved; the creditor may subsequently prove the debt and claim from undistributed assets. Consequently the claimant is treated as a creditor entitled to prove his debt and the liquidator must entertain and dispose of the claim according to law.

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Issues: Whether the time for giving notice under Section 169 of the Companies Act VI of 1882 should be extended to validate the notice dated 27 July 1903, and whether a claimant who failed to prove his debt within the time fixed by the notice under Section 156 can still have his claim entertained by the liquidator without instituting a suit under Section 136.

Analysis: The notice period under Section 169 was treated as extendable in a proper case and the time was extended to the date on which notice was in fact given, namely 27 July 1903. On the substantive point, the consequence of failing to prove a claim within the period specified in a notice published under Section 156 was examined: the statutory penalty is limited to exclusion from the benefit of any distribution made before the debt is proved, permitting the claimant to prove subsequently and claim only from undistributed assets. This position follows the equivalent provision as applied in prior authority under the English Companies Act, 1862, and the claimant is established to be a creditor entitled to prove his debt.

Conclusion: Time for notice is extended to 27 July 1903 and the petitioner's claim is to be entertained by the liquidator and disposed of according to law; the order dismissing the petition is set aside.

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