Special company court procedure excludes written statement requirement on appearance in section 543 proceedings

In proceedings under section 543 of the Companies Act, 1956 moved by judge's summons, the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959 provide a special procedure that differs materially from the Code of Civil Procedure. Rules 260 and 261 contemplate appearance followed, if directed, by points of claim and points of defence, and the relevant forms do not require the applicant to set out facts at the summons stage. Accordingly, Order 8 Rule 1 CPC does not apply, and the respondent was not bound to file a written statement merely on appearance. As no adverse procedural consequence arose from that omission, the ex parte proceedings were not set aside.

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Issues: Whether, in an application under section 543 of the Companies Act, 1956 moved by judge's summons, the respondent was bound to file a written statement on appearance and whether the ex parte proceedings taken against the respondent were liable to be set aside.

Analysis: The procedure under the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959 for applications under sections 542 and 543 is special and materially different from the procedure under the Code of Civil Procedure. Rules 260 and 261 provide that such applications are to be moved by judge's summons and that, after appearance, the court may direct filing of points of claim and points of defence. The relevant forms do not require the applicant to state the facts at the summons stage. In that special procedural setting, Order 8, Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure does not apply, and the respondent was not required to file a written statement merely on appearance. Since no adverse procedural consequence followed from the absence of a written statement, the ex parte order did not call for being set aside.

Conclusion: The respondent was not required to file a written statement in the proceedings under section 543, and the application to set aside the ex parte proceedings was rejected.

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