Gujarat High Court
The Official Liquidator Of Various ... vs Na on 12 January, 2024
Author: Nirzar S. Desai
Bench: Nirzar S. Desai
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/OLR/4/2024 ORDER DATED: 12/01/2024
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/OFFICIAL LIQUDATOR REPORT NO. 4 of 2024
In R/OFFICIAL LIQUDATOR REPORT NO. 36 of 2020
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THE OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR OF VARIOUS COMPANIES IN
LIQUIDATION
Versus
na
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Appearance:
MR DHAWAN M JAYSWAL(5878) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NIRZAR S. DESAI
Date : 12/01/2024
ORAL ORDER
1. The Official Liquidator has filed present report
with following directions are sought in para 12
of the report:-
(A) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to
approve revised draft of Scheme for
engagement of the Counsels / advocates
in the Office of the Official
Liquidator, High Court of Gujarat, at
Annexure - "D" to this report with or
without such modifications or
alterations as may be considered
appropriate by this Hon'ble Court.
(B) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to
constitute a Selection Committee
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comprising such members as laid down in
scheme at Annexure - "D" and / or such
members as may be considered appropriate
by this Hon'ble Court to undertake the
process of finalizing names of Ld.
Advocates as drafting counsels for
empanelment for the Office of the
Official Liquidator.
(C) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to
permit the Official Liquidator to invite
application from Ld. Advocates to
reconstitute the existing panel on such
terms and conditions as may be
considered appropriate by this Hon'ble
Court and be pleased to direct the
Selection Committee to undertake such
process as laid down in the scheme for
selection of Ld. drafting counsels and
to submit their recommendation for
empanelment of Ld. drafting counsels for
final approval & sanction of this
Hon'ble Court
(D) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to
permit the Official Liquidator to make
monthly remuneration of Panel Advocates
as defined in clause (VII) schedule of
fees in the draft scheme for engagement
of the counsels / advocates
w.e.f.01.02.2024 from the Common Pool
Account maintained by the Office of the
Official Liquidator
(E) ............"
2. Learned Official Liquidator, apprised that this
Court has vide order dated 16.11.2021 passed in
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OLR No. 36 of 2020, approved the scheme for
engagement of counsel / advocates in the office
of the Official Liquidator and also permitted
the Official Liquidator to undertake the process
for selection of panel of the counsels and
advocates as per the scheme as well as also
constituted Selection Committee for such
empanelment.
3. Learned Official Liquidator further apprised
that in compliance of the aforesaid order,
selection committee was constituted and
selection committee undertook the process for
appointment of the for appointment of standing
counsels, panel advocates and counsels for title
search for the Office of the Official
Liquidator. On the basis of the recommendation
of the Selection Committee, the Official
Liquidator filed further report in OLR No. 36 of
2020 inter-alia seeking permission to appoint 04
Advocate in the category of Standing Counsels ,
03 Advocate in the category of Panel Advocate
and 03 Advocate in the category of Counsels for
Title Search and also to make payment of fee of
Learned Counsels and Counsels for Title Search
as well as monthly remuneration of Panel
Advocates as defined in clause (VII) schedule
of fees of the scheme for engagement of the
counsels / advocates as per scheme from the
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Common Pool Account maintained by the Office of
the Official Liquidator.
4. This Court has vide order dated order dated
28.03.2022 passed in OLR No. 36 of 2020
permitted the Official Liquidator to appoint
following Standing Counsels , Panel Advocate and
Counsel for Title Search on his Panel:--
Sr. Name of Designation Remunerat
No. Advocate ion /
Fees
01 Parindaben Standing Counsel 25,000/-
J. Davawala Per Case
02 Abhijit P. Standing Counsel 25,000/-
Joshi Per Case
03 Siddharth H. Standing Counsel 25,000/-
Dave Per Case
04 Chirayu Standing Counsel 25,000/-
Mehta Per Case
05 Bhoomi M. Panel Advocate 25,000/-
Thakore PM
(Fixed)
06 Shivang Panel Advocate 25,000/-
A.Thacker PM
(Fixed)
07 Dhawan M. Panel Advocate 25,000/-
Jaiswal PM
(Fixed)
08 Niyati M. Counsel for 10,000/-
Bhatt Title Search Per Case
09 Ravi B. Shah Counsel for 10,000/-
Title Search Per Case
10 Hiral N. Counsel for 10,000/-
Trivedi Title Search Per Case
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C/OLR/4/2024 ORDER DATED: 12/01/2024
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5. Learned Official Liquidator apprised that in
compliance of the aforesaid order, vide letter
dated 09.05.2022 the Official Liquidator has
appointed above-named Learned Advocates in the
panel and since then they have been working
satisfactorily to till date.
6. Learned Official Liquidator further informed
that Learned Panel Advocates vide its letter
dated 01.05.2023 requested the Official
Liquidator to revise their remuneration from
`25,000/- per month to `60,000/- per month
looking to nature and volume of work. In support
of their request, they have relied upon
remuneration paid by the Office of the Official
Liquidator, New Delhi to its Panel Advocate i.e.
`60,000/- per month and remuneration paid by
State of Gujarat, to the Learned Asst.
Government Pleader i.e.`50,000/- per month. In
support of the Statement, Learned Panel Advocate
forwarded scheme of Panel Advocate of Delhi High
Court and Notification dated.05.02.2022 issued
by Legal Department, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar.
7. In this regard, Learned Official Liquidator
informed that to revise the remuneration of the
Learned Standing Counsels and Panel Advocate,
scheme for engagement of counsel / advocates is
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required to be modified with the approval of
this Court.
8. Learned Official Liquidator further apprised
that cases related to companies in liquidation
have been filed and listed before various forum
of Law i.e. Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, ,
Hon'ble High Court and various other
subordinate courts, Tribunals and other foras
and in the said matters, the Official Liquidator
is required to file replies , rejoinders ,
reports to complete the pleadings and also
required to found out judgments / orders to
defends the said matters. Hence, for the said
purpose the Official Liquidator is required to
engage drafting counsels to help Standing
Counsels and Panel Advocate to draft replies,
rejoinders , reports , petitions after
consultation with the Official Liquidator. The
drafting counsel may be attached with panel
advocates & standing counsels so that drafting
counsels may be groomed for future.
9. In view of above submission, the Official
Liquidator proposes as under:---
(I) Considering, the request by panel advocate
and keeping in view the work load, the
monthly remuneration of the panel advocate
may be increased to `50,000/- per month or
as may be deem fit and proper by this
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Hon'ble Court.
(II) In order to keep parity between Standing
Counsels & Panel Advocate, the remuneration
of Standing Counsels may also be increased
to `35,000/- per case or as may be deem fit
and proper by this Hon'ble Court.
(III) Appointment of drafting counsel in the
Office of the Official Liquidator may be
permitted, such drafting counsel may be
paid a remuneration of `15,000/- per month
(fixed). Therefore, it is proposed that 5
no. of drafting counsels may be engaged out
of which 3 will be attached with each of
the panel advocates as they are handling
most of the matters while remaining 2
drafting counsels may be attached with
standing counsels as per their requirement
on case to case basis
10. In view of above submission made by the Learned
Official Liquidator, the draft of modified
Scheme for engagement of counsels/advocates in
the office of the Official Liquidator, High
Court of Gujarat, Ahmedabad attached with the
present report at Annexure "D" is hereby
sanctioned.
11. There would be a committee comprising the
Official Liquidator, Registrar General and the
Additional Solicitor General or any other
counsel from the panel of the Central Government
as may be nominated by Additional Solicitor
General. The Committee shall undertake the
process as per scheme and examine the
applications received and after shortlisting the
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names of the eligible and suitable advocates for
drafting counsels, the same shall be placed
before this Court for necessary approval.
12. The Official Liquidator is permitted to make
monthly remuneration of Panel Advocates as
defined in clause (VII) schedule of fees in the
scheme for engagement of the counsels /
advocates w.e.f.01.02.2024 from the Common Pool
Account maintained by the Office of the Official
Liquidator.
13. The Court, having heard the Learned Official
Liquidator and having considered the contents of
the report, finds that the prayers sought in the
report could be granted. They are accordingly
granted. The Report stands disposed of.
(NIRZAR S. DESAI,J)
Pallavi
