Winding-up petition procedure requires judicial discretion before advertisement, with company objections considered at the directions stage.

A winding-up petition cannot be directed to advertisement mechanically merely because it has been accepted. After notice to the company, the Company Judge must first consider the company's objections and exercise discretion at the directions stage to decide whether the petition should proceed to advertisement and final hearing, or be stayed or dismissed. Rule 733 required advertisement before final hearing, but did not remove the court's power to stop the petition at an earlier stage where the objections made further steps unwarranted. The order directing advertisement without such consideration was unsustainable, and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration.

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Issues: Whether, after acceptance of a winding-up petition, the Company Judge was bound to direct advertisement of the petition or was required first to consider the company's objections and exercise discretion under the applicable procedural rule.

Analysis: Section 202 of the Companies Act, 1956 conferred a right of appeal, but a purely procedural order would not necessarily be appealable. On the merits, Rule 733 of the High Court Rules required advertisement of a winding-up petition before final hearing, but it did not deprive the Judge of the power to refuse to proceed with the petition, dismiss it, or stay it at the preliminary stage if the objections disclosed that further steps were unwarranted. The proper practice was to treat the matter, after acceptance of the petition and notice to the company, as a stage for directions in which the Judge had to hear the company's contentions and decide whether the petition should proceed to advertisement and final hearing.

Conclusion: The order directing advertisement without first considering the appellants' objections was made without exercising the jurisdiction that the Judge was bound to exercise, and was therefore unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the impugned order was set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration of the petition at the stage of directions.

Ratio Decidendi: A winding-up petition may not be mechanically directed to advertisement merely because it has been accepted; the court must first consider the company's objections and exercise its discretion whether the petition should proceed, be stayed, or be dismissed at the preliminary stage.

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