The Hooghly Docking and Engineering Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984

(1) This Act may be called the Hooghly Docking andEngineering Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 28th day of June, 1984.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "appointed day" means the date of commencement of this Act; (b) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Payments appointed under section 15; (c) "Company" means the Hooghly Docking and Engineering Company Limited, being acompany as defined in the Companies, Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), and having its registered office at 12,Mission Row, Calcutta-700001; (d) "existing Government company" means a Government company which is carrying onbusiness on the appointed day; (e) "new Government company" means a Government company formed and registered on or afterthe appointed day; (f) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (h) "specified date", in relation to any provision of this Act, means such date as the CentralGovernment may, by notification, specify for the purposes of that provision and different dates maybe specified for different provisions of this Act. (i) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the CompaniesAct, 1956 (1 of 1956), shall have the meanings, respectively, assigned to them in that Act.

On the appointed day, the undertaking of the Company, and the right, title and interest of the Company inrelation to its undertakings, shall, by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to, and vested in, the CentralGovernment.

(1) The undertakings of the Company shall be deemed to include allassets, rights, lease-holds, powers, authorities and privileges, and all property, movable and immovable,including lands, buildings, workshops, stores, instruments, machinery and equipment, cash balances, cashon hand, reserve funds, investments, book debts and all other rights and interests in, or arising out of, suchproperty as were immediately before the appointed day in the ownership, possession, power or control ofthe Company, whether within or outside India, and all books of account, registers and all other documentsof whatever nature relating thereto. (2) All properties as aforesaid which have vested in the Central Government under section 3 shall, byforce of such vesting, be freed and discharged from any trust, obligation, mortgage, charge, lien and allother incumbrances affecting them, and any attachment, injunction, decree or order of any court, tribunalor other authority restricting the use of such properties in any manner shall be deemed to have beenwithdrawn. (3) Every mortgagee of any property which has vested under this Act in the Central Government andevery 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 suchmortgage, charge, lien or other interest. (4) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the mortgagee of any property referred to insub-section (3) or any other person holding any charge, lien or other interest in, or in relation to, any suchproperty shall be entitled to claim, in accordance with his rights and interests, payment of the mortgagemoney or other dues, in whole or in part, out of the amount specified in sections 8 and also out of theamount determined under section 9, but no such mortgage, charge, lien or other interest shall beenforceable against any property which has vested in the Central Government. (5) Any licence or other instrument granted to the Company in relation to any undertaking which hasvested in the Central Government under section 3, at any time before the appointed day and in forceimmediately before that day, shall continue to be in force on and after such day in accordance with itstenor in relation to, and for the purposes of, such undertaking and on and from the date of vesting of suchundertaking under section 5, in an existing Government company, or under section 6, in a newGovernment company, the existing, or new, Government company, as the case may be, shall be deemedto be substituted in such licence or other instrument as if such licence or other instrument had beengranted to such existing, or new, Government company and such existing, or new, Government companyshall hold it for the remainder of the period for which the Company would have held it under the termsthereof. (6) If, on the appointed day, any suit, appeal or other proceeding of whatever nature in relation to anyproperty which has vested in the Central Government under section 3, instituted or preferred by or againstthe Company is pending, the same shall not abate, be discontinued or be, in any way, prejudiciallyaffected by reason of the transfer of the undertakings of the Company or of anything contained in thisAct, but the suit, appeal or other proceeding may be continued, prosecuted or enforced by or against theCentral Government, or, where the undertakings of the Company are directed, under section 5, to vest inan existing Government company or become transferred by virtue of the provisions of section 6 to a newGovernment company, by or against such Government company.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sections 3 and 4, andsubject to the provisions of section 6, the Central Government may, if it is satisfied that an existingGovernment company is willing to comply, or has complied, with such terms and conditions as thatGovernment may think fit to impose, direct, by notification, that the undertakings of the Company, andthe right, title and interest of the Company in relation to its undertakings which have vested in the CentralGovernment under section 3, shall, instead of continuing to vest in the Central Government, vest in thatexisting Government company either on the date of publication of the notification or on such earlier orlater date (not being a date earlier than the appointed day) as may be specified in the notification. (2) Where the right, title and interest of the Company in relation to its undertakings vest, undersub-section (1), in an existing Government company, that Government company shall, on and from thedate of such vesting be deemed to have become, and until the transfer of the undertakings by virtue of theprovisions of section 6, to a new Government company, be deemed to be, the owner in relation to suchundertakings and the rights and liabilities of the Central Government in relation to such undertakingsshall, on and from the date of such vesting, be deemed to have become, and until the date of such transfer,be deemed to be, the rights and liabilities, respectively, of that existing Government company.