The Bird and Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings and Other Properties) Act, 1980

This Act may be called the Bird and Company Limited(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings and Other Properties ) Act, 1980. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of October, 1980.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "appointed day" means the 25th day of October, 1980; (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of Payments appointed under section 13; (c) "Company" means the Bird and Company Limited, being a company as defined in theCompanies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), and having its registered office at Chartered Bank Buildings,Calcutta-700001, in the State of West Bengal; (d) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (f) "share" means a share, whether equity or preference, held by the Company in the capital of aspecified company and includes any such share pledged by the Company with any bank or any othercreditor; (g) "specified company" means a company specified in Schedule I; (h) "specified date", means such date as the Central Government may, for the purposes 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(1 of 1956), shall have the meanings, respectively, assigned to them in that Act.

Onthe appointed day, the undertakings 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 vest in, the CentralGovernment.

(1) On theappointed day, all the shares held by the Company in the specified companies 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 concerned specified company as the holder of each share which standstransferred to, and vested in, it by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (1). (3) 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 a specified company subsisting, immediately before the appointed day, against theCompany to recover from it any sum of money on the ground that the Company has not paid orcredited to the specified company the whole or any part of the value of the shares held by it, or on anyother ground whatsoever; or (b) any right of a specified company subsisting, immediately before the appointed day, against theCompany to receive any payments due from the Company

(1) The undertaking of the Company shall be deemed to include allassets, rights, leaseholds, 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,such property as were immediately before the appointed day in the ownership, possession, power orcontrol of the Company, whether within or outside India, and all books of account, registers and otherdocuments of whatever nature relating thereto. (2) All properties as aforesaid which have vested in the Central Government, whether under section 3or section 4, shall, by force of such vesting, be freed and discharged from any trust, obligation, mortgage,charge, lien and all other incumbrances affecting them, and any attachment, injunction, decree or order ofany court or other authority restricting the use of such properties in any manner or appointing any receiverin respect of the whole or any part of such properties shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. (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 amounts specified in section 8, but no such mortgage,charge, lien or other interest shall be enforceable against any property which has vested in the CentralGovernment. (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 7, in a Government company, that Government company shall be deemed to besubstituted in such licence or other instrument as if such licence or other instrument had been granted tosuch Government company and such Government company shall hold it for the remainder of the periodfor which that 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 anyproperty which has vested in the Central Government, whether under section 3 or under section 4,instituted or preferred by or against the Company is pending, the same shall not abate, be discontinued orbe, in any way prejudicially affected by reason of the transfer of the undertakings of the Company or ofanything contained in this Act, but the suit, appeal or other proceeding may be continued, prosecuted orenforced by or against the Central Government, or where the undertakings of the Company are directedunder section 7, to vest in a Government company, by or against such company.