Recovery certificate and attachment do not create a charge; creditor treated as unsecured in liquidation.

A recovery certificate under Section 101 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act merely quantified the dues and made them recoverable as arrears of land revenue; it did not create a charge on the company's property. Attachment and pre-auction steps under Section 156 and Rule 107 were only execution machinery, and attachment itself did not confer secured status. The applicant also could not rely on Sections 47 or 48, an unregistered mortgage, or belated charge registration after winding up to claim priority. As no charge was created or validly registered before the winding-up order, Section 125 of the Companies Act, 1956 barred secured creditor status, and the applicant was treated as an unsecured creditor.

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Issues: Whether the applicant, whose dues were covered by a recovery certificate under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act and whose property had been attached and put to sale, was a secured creditor or an unsecured creditor in the company liquidation proceedings.

Analysis: The recovery certificate under Section 101 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 only declared the amount due and made it recoverable as arrears of land revenue. Section 156 of the Act and Rule 107 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Rules, 1961 only provided the machinery for attachment and sale in execution. The Court held that neither the recovery certificate nor the subsequent attachment and pre-auction steps created a charge on the company's property. It further held that attachment does not create a charge, and that the applicant could not rely on Sections 47 or 48 of the Act, nor on the unregistered mortgage or the belated registration of charge after winding up, to claim secured status. Since no charge was created or validly registered before the winding-up order, Section 125 of the Companies Act, 1956 barred any claim to secured creditor status.

Conclusion: The applicant was not a secured creditor and was to be treated as an unsecured creditor.

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