Jurisdiction under section 294 of the Companies Act turns on the application date, not the date of the court order.

Section 294 of the Companies Act 1929 was construed by reference to its practical operation, with the Court holding that the relevant two-year period ran to the date of the application, not the date of the order. Because the timing of the Court's order was outside the parties' control, the section was not treated as imposing a jurisdictional bar merely because the order was made after two years from dissolution. Jurisdiction therefore existed where the application was issued within two years, even if the order followed later.

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Issues: Whether, on the true construction of section 294 of the Companies Act, 1929, the Court's jurisdiction to make an order under that section was confined to cases where the order itself was made within two years of the company's dissolution, or whether the relevant period ran to the date of the application.

Analysis: The Court construed the section against its practical background and the fact that the date on which the Court makes its order is not within the control of either party. On that construction, the two-year period was treated as running from the date of dissolution to the date of the application, not to the date of the order. The section was therefore not read as imposing a jurisdictional bar merely because the order was made after the expiry of two years from dissolution.

Conclusion: The Court held that jurisdiction existed to make the order where the application was issued within two years of dissolution, even if the order was made later.

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