Appealability of winding-up examination orders and counsel-assisted liquidation examinations under company law upheld.

An order in winding-up proceedings that finally determines a person's liability to be examined, rather than serving as a merely formal or interlocutory direction, was treated as appealable under section 202 of the Companies Act, 1913. The court also recognised that, in an examination under section 195, the Official Liquidator may conduct the examination with counsel's assistance, since the regulation of that process lies within judicial discretion and no legal bar or exceptional reason was shown to exclude counsel. The direction for examination was therefore upheld and the appeal failed on merits.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether the order directing the appellants to be examined in the winding-up proceedings was appealable under section 202 of the Companies Act, 1913. (ii) Whether, in an examination under section 195 of the Companies Act, 1913, the Official Liquidator could conduct the examination with the of counsel.

Issue (i): Whether the order directing the appellants to be examined in the winding-up proceedings was appealable under section 202 of the Companies Act, 1913.

Analysis: Section 202 was treated as wide enough to cover appeals from orders made in the course of winding up, provided the order finally determines a dispute or affects a substantial right and is not merely formal or interlocutory. The order in question was held to be the operative order affecting the appellants' liability to be examined, and therefore not a mere preliminary or procedural direction.

Conclusion: The order was appealable under section 202, Companies Act, 1913.

Issue (ii): Whether, in an examination under section 195 of the Companies Act, 1913, the Official Liquidator could conduct the examination with the of counsel.

Analysis: Section 195 confers wide powers on the court to summon and examine persons capable of giving information concerning the company's affairs and to require production of documents. The power to regulate the examination was treated as a matter of judicial discretion, and no legal bar was identified against the Official Liquidator being assisted by counsel. No exceptional circumstances were shown to displace that discretion.

Conclusion: The court held that the examination could be conducted by the Official Liquidator with the assistance of counsel.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed on merits and the direction for examination in the winding-up proceedings was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: In winding-up proceedings, an order that finally determines a person's liability to be examined is appealable under section 202, and the court may, in its discretion, permit the Official Liquidator to conduct an examination under section 195 with counsel's assistance.

---