Struck-off company lacks juristic personality and cannot maintain an appeal unless restored to the register.

A company whose name has been struck off from the Register of Companies ceases to exist as a juristic person unless it is restored under the relevant provision. On the material produced, the appellant company was shown as struck off and had itself sought removal of its name, but no restoration was shown. It therefore could not be treated as a subsisting legal entity capable of maintaining the appeal, which was held not maintainable. The challenge failed at the threshold, and the merits of the arbitral award and Section 34 proceedings were not examined.

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Issues: (i) Whether the appeal was maintainable when the appellant company had been struck off from the Register of Companies.

Analysis: A company acquires juristic personality on incorporation and ordinarily continues as a legal entity until it is dissolved or struck off from the register. On the material produced, the company's status was shown as struck off, and the appellant itself had sought removal of its name from the register. No restoration under the relevant provision was shown. In that situation, the company could no longer be treated as a subsisting legal person capable of maintaining the appeal.

Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable and the issue was decided against the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The challenge failed at the threshold because the appellant company had ceased to exist in law, and the merits of the arbitral award and the Section 34 proceedings were not examined.

Ratio Decidendi: A company whose name has been struck off from the register and which has not been restored ceases to exist as a juristic person and cannot maintain proceedings in its own name.

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