The British India Corporation Limited (Acquisition of Shares) Act, 1981

(1) This Act may be called the British India CorporationLimited (Acquisition of Shares) Act, 1981. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 11th day of June, 1981.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "appointed day" means the 11th day of June, 1981; (b) "bank" means a banking company within the meaning of the Banking RegulationAct, 1949 (10 of 1949); (c) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Payments appointed under section 6; (d) "Company" means British India Corporation Limited,being a company within the meaning ofthe Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), and having its registered office at Sutherland House, Kanpur,in the State of Uttar Pradesh; (e) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (f) "share" means a share, whether ordinary or preference, in the capital of the Company, andincludes a share pledged by any shareholder with any bank or other creditor, but does not include anyshare in the capital of the Company held by-- (i) the Central Government; (ii) any State Government; (iii) the State Bank of India, established under section 3 of the State Bank of India Act,1955(23 of 1955), and its subsidiary banks; (iv) the Life Insurance Corporation of India, established under section 3 of the Life InsuranceCorporation Act, 1956 (31 of 1956); (v) the Unit Trust of India, established under section 3 of the Unit Trust of India Act, 1963(52 of 1963); (vi) any corresponding new bank, within the meaning of the Banking Companies (Acquisitionand Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970); (vii) any corresponding new bank, within the meaning of the Banking Companies(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act,1980 (40 of 1980); (viii) any general insurance company nationalised by the General Insurance Business(Nationalisation) Act, 1972 (57 of 1972); (g) "shareholder" means,-- (i) a person who, immediately before the appointed day, was registered by the Company asthe holder of any share and includes his legal representative; or (ii) a person who, before the appointed day, had lodged with the Company a properinstrument of transfer of any share in the form prescribed under section 108 of the CompaniesAct, 1956 (1 of 1956), and executed in accordance with the provisions of that section; or (iii) a person who claims under a proper instrument of transfer of any share in the formprescribed under section 108 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), and delivers suchinstrument to the Commissioner, duly executed, on or before such date as the CentralGovernment may, by notification, specify in this behalf; (h) "specified date" means such date as the Central Government may, for the purpose of anyprovision of this Act, by notification, specify and different dates may be specified for differentprovisions of this Act; (i) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Companies Act,1956 (1of 1956), have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.

(1) On theappointed day, all the shares of the Company shall, by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to, and vest in,the Central Government. (2) The Central Government shall be deemed, on and from the appointed day, to have been registeredin the Register of members of the Company as the holder of each share which stands transferred to, andvested in, it by virtue of the provisions of sub-section(1). (3) All the shares which have vested in the Central Government under sub-section (1), shall, by forceof such vesting, be freed and discharged of all trusts, liabilities, obligations, mortgages, charges, liens andother encumbrances affecting them, and any attachment, injunction or any decree or order of the court,tribunal or other authority restricting the use of such shares in any manner, shall be deemed to have beenwithdrawn. (4) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2)shall not be deemed to affect-- (a) any right of the Company subsisting, immediately before the appointed day, against anyshareholder to recover from such shareholder any sum of money on the ground that the shareholderhas not paid or credited to the Company the whole or any part of the value of the shares held by him,or on any other ground whatsoever; or (b) any right of the shareholder subsisting, immediately before the appointed day, against theCompany to receive any dividend or other payment due from the Company.

For the purpose of enabling the Company to function as aGovernment company, the Central Government may, by notification, make such provisions (includingchanges in the Board of Directors, and amendments in the memorandum and articles of association, of theCompany) as it may consider necessary and the provisions so made shall have effect notwithstandinganything contained in the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).

(1) For the transfer to, and vesting in, the Central Government, undersection 3, of the shares of the Company, there shall be given by the Central Government to theshareholders of the Company, in cash and in the manner specified in section 7, an amount of rupeestwenty-two lakhs and sixty thousand. (2) The amount, referred to in sub-section (1), shall carry simple interest at the rate of four percent.per annum for the period commencing on the appointed day and ending on the date on which payment ofsuch amount is made by the Central Government to the Commissioner.