TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1992 (12) TMI 194
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....e petitioners are the creditors of the first respondent company. The substance of the petition is that the first respondent company is unable to pay its debts and that the company is commercially insolvent. The office raised an objection that though a joint petition by 40 petitioners is maintainable, separate sets of court-fee shall be paid in respect of each of the creditors. In another matter, earlier in K.S. Srikantaiah v. Manjog Consultancy Service P. Ltd. (C.P. No. 54 of 1989, decided on May 11, 1989) initially several creditors filed a company petition under section 433(e) of the Act. The office raised an objection that several creditors cannot file a single petition. This objection was overruled by the learned company judge on May ....
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....to pay separate court-fee of Rs. 100 each." It seems subsequently in the said matter, the petition was confined to one of the creditors. However, the two opinions quoted above prima facie reflect two divergent views and accordingly, this matter was referred to the Division Bench. We directed the learned Government advocate to take notice, since the question of court-fee is involved and we have heard the learned Government advocate also. According to the learned Government advocate, section 6 of the Karnataka Court-fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958, governed the case under which the plaint shall be chargeable with a fee on the aggregate value of the reliefs in any suit in which separate and distinct reliefs based on the same cause of acti....
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.... a person whose individual legal right is sought to be infringed. In fact, the courts have entertained a single writ petition with single court-fee as and when the proceedings are initiated by way of public interest litigation. In the case of public interest litigation, none of the petitioners is expected to pay separate court-fee. The concept of cause of action shall have to be understood by reference to the nature of the proceedings that could be initiated consequent upon such a cause of action. When a company is sought to be wound up because the company is unable to pay its debts, the cause of action arises as and when the company's commercial insolvency is disclosed or it is realised that the company is commercially insolvent or it is ....
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....y the court. The nature of the proceedings is brought out by the Chancery Division in Crigglestone Coal Co. Ltd., In re [1906] 2 Ch 327 (Ch. D.) (at page 331) : "A creditor who obtains judgment, and issues execution at law, has a legal right to the means of satisfying his judgment. Subject to qualifications, one of which rests in the fact that the language of the Act is 'may' and not 'shall', and to the reservation which Lord Cranworth made, and subject to what I shall presently say as to the representative position of the petitioner, it seems to me that the petitioning creditor has, as between himself and his debtor, a similar right ex debito justitiae to seize his debtor's assets by the hand of a liquidator and administer them for the be....
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....it is the right not of the individual, but of the class ; that it is for the majority to seek or to decline the order as best serves the interest of their class. It is a matter upon which the majority of the unsecured creditors are entitled to prevail, but on which the debtor has no voice." Therefore, a company petition is more in the nature of a class interest litigation and not in the nature of a litigation between an individual and the company. Order 1, rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure which is applicable provides for joinder of several persons as plaintiffs in one suit. However, Mr. Sunder Kumar pointed out that it is not the question of maintainability of a single petition. His contention is based on section 6 of the Court-fees ....