Execution against distributed company assets remains available after voluntary liquidation where shareholders cannot rely on a statutory bar to defeat the decree.

A decree against a company after voluntary liquidation remained enforceable against company assets allotted to shareholders, because distribution of those assets did not extinguish liability for the company's debts. Section 243 of the Indian Companies Act, 1913 was treated as an enabling provision for restoration proceedings within the prescribed time, not as a complete bar to other lawful remedies. The appellants' suppression of the liquidation and fraudulent conduct prevented them from invoking the statutory protection. On that basis, the decree-holder was entitled to execute the decree against the allotted buses, and the objection based on section 243 failed.

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Issues: Whether the decree obtained against the company, after its voluntary liquidation, could be executed against the buses allotted to the shareholders, and whether section 243 of the Indian Companies Act, 1913, barred the judgment-creditor from pursuing that remedy.

Analysis: Section 243 was treated as an enabling provision permitting restoration proceedings within the prescribed time; it did not by itself exclude other lawful remedies. The appellants were found to have suppressed the liquidation and to have acted fraudulently, and that finding prevented them from relying on the statutory bar. In such a situation, permitting them to invoke the liquidation would amount to rewarding fraud. The assets of the company, once distributed among shareholders, remained liable for the company's debts, and the decree-holder was entitled to proceed against those assets in execution.

Conclusion: The decree was executable against the assets allotted to the shareholders, and section 243 did not protect the appellants; the contention raised by them failed.

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