Sree Saraswaty Press Limited (Acquisition And Transfer Of Undertakings) Act, 1984
No: 33 Dated: Nov, 17 1984
THE SREE SARASWATY PRESS LIMITED (ACQUISITION AND TRANSFER OF UNDERTAKINGS) ACT, 1984
West Bengal Act XXXIII of 1984
An Act to provide for the acquisition and transfer, in the public interest, of the undertakings of Sree Saraswaty Press Limited, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Whereas Sree Saraswaty Press Limited had been engaged in photo-offset and letterpress printing, serigraphy, linotype and monotype, process engraving, type founding, packaging and bookbinding, varnishing and P-U roller casting;
And Whereas the management of the undertakings of Sree Saraswaty Press Limited had been conducted in a manner highly detrimental to the public interest;
And Whereas the management of the undertakings of Sree Saraswaty Press Limited was taken over by the Central Government under section 18AA of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951;
And Whereas for the purpose of reconstructing and rehabilitating the undertaking of Sree Saraswaty Press Limited with a view to ensuring that the interests of the general public are served by the continuance, by the undertakings of the Company, of the aforesaid printing and other works which are essential to the needs of the general public, it is necessary to-acquire the undertakings of the Company;
It is hereby enacted as follows:-
Chapter I
Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Sree Saraswaty Press Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context, otherwise requires, -
(a) "appointed day" means the date on which this Act comes into force;
(b) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Payments appointed under section 16;
(c) "Company" means Sree Saraswaty Press Limited, being a company as defined in the Companies Act, 1956, and having its registered office at 32, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Calcutta 700009;
(d) "date of taking over of management of the undertakings of the Company" means the 31st day of October, 1979;
(e) "existing Government company" means a Government company which is carrying on business on the appointed day;
(f) "new Government company" means a Government company formed and registered on or after the appointed day;
(g) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette,
(h) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(i) "specified date" means such date as the State Government may, for the purpose of any of the provisions of this Act, by notification, specify, and different dates may be specified for different provisions of this Act;
(j) words and expressions used herein and not defined, but defined in the Companies Act, 1956, have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.
Chapter II
Acquisition and transfer of the undertaking of the Company
3. Transfer to, and vesting in, State Government of the undertakings of the Company. - On the appointed day, the undertakings of the Company, and the right, title and interest of the Company in relation to its undertakings, shall, by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to, and vest in, the State Government.
4. General effect of vesting. - (1) The undertakings of the Company shall be deemed to include all assets, rights, lease-holds, powers, authorities and privileges, and all property, movable and immovable, including lands, buildings, offices, factories, workshops, stores, instruments, plants, machinery and equipment, installations, laboratories, office furniture, stationery and equipment, vehicles, patents, trade marks, cash balances, cash in hand, reserve funds, instruments, book debts and all other rights and interests in, or arising out of, such property as were immediately before the appointed day in the ownership, possession, power or control of the Company, whether within or outside India, and all books of account, registers and all other documents of whatever nature relating thereto.
(2) All properties and assets as aforesaid which have vested in the State Government under section 3 shall, by force of such vesting, be freed and discharged from any trust, obligation, mortgage, charge, lien and all other encumbrances affecting them, and any attachment, injunction, decree or order of any Court or other authority restricting the use of such properties or assets in any manner or appointing any receiver in respect of the whole or any part of such properties or assets shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
(3) Every mortgagee of any property which has vested under this Act in the State Government and every person holding any charge, lien or other interest in, or in relation to, any such property shall give, within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, an intimation to the Commissioner of such mortgage, charge, lien or other interest.
(4) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the mortgagee of any property referred to in sub-section (3) or any other person holding any charge, lien or other interest in, or in relation to, any such property shall be entitled to claim, in accordance with his rights and interests, payment of the mortgage money or other dues, in whole or in part, out of the amount of compensation determined under section 8, and also out of the amount determined under section 9, but, no such mortgage, charge, lien or other interests shall be enforceable against any property which has vested in the State Government.
(5) Any licence or other instrument granted to the Company in relation to any undertaking which has vested in the State Government under section 3 at any time before the appointed day and in force immediately before the appointed day shall continue to be in force on and after such day in accordance with its tenor in relation to and for the purpose of such undertaking, and, on and from the date of vesting of such undertaking, under section 6, in an existing Government company, or under section 7, in a new Government company, the existing or the new Government company, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be substituted in such licence or other instrument as if such licence or other instrument had been granted to such existing or new Government company and such existing or new Government company shall hold it for the remainder of the period for which the Company would have held it under the terms thereof.
(6) If, on the appointed day, any suit, appeal or other proceeding of whatever nature, in relation to any property or assets which has vested in the State Government under section 3, instituted or preferred by or against the Company, is pending the same shall not abate, be discontinued or be, in any way, pre-judicially affected by reason of the transfer of the undertakings of the Company or of anything contained in this Act, but the suit, appeal or other proceeding may be continued, prosecuted or enforced by or against the State Government or, where the undertakings of the Company are directed under section 6 to vest in an existing Government company or become transferred by virtue of the provisions of section 7 to a new Government company, by or against such Government company.