14. Appointment of Commissioner of Payments.-
(1)
The Central Government shall, for the purpose of disbursing the amounts payable to the Company under sections 7 and 8, by notification, appoint a Commissioner of Payments.
(2)
The Central Government may appoint such other persons as it may think fit to assist the Commissioner and thereupon the Commissioner may authorise one or more of such persons also to exercise all or any of the powers exercisable by him under this Act and different persons may be authorised to exercise different powers.
(3)
Any person authorised by the Commissioner to exercise any of the powers exercisable by the Commissioner may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they have been conferred on that person directly by this Act and not by way of authorisation.
(4)
The salaries and allowances of the Commissioner and other persons appointed under this section shall be defrayed out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
15. Payment by the Central Government to the Commissioner.-
(1)
The Central Government shall, within thirty days from the specified date, pay, in cash, to the Commissioner, for payment to the Company-
(a)
an amount equal to the amount specified in section 7; and
(b)
an amount equal to the amount payable to the Company under section 8.
(2)
A deposit account shall be opened by the Central Government in favour of the Commissioner, in the Public Account of India, and every amount paid under this Act to the Commissioner, shall be deposited by him to the credit of the said account and the said deposit account shall be operated by the Commissioner.
(3)
Interest accruing on the amounts standing to the credit of the deposit account referred to in sub-section (2) shall enure to the said account.
16. Certain powers of the Central Government or Government company.-
(1)
The Central Government or the Government company, as the case may be, shall be entitled to receive up to the specified date, to the exclusion of all other persons, any money due to the Company in relation to its undertakings which have vested in the Central Government, or the Government company, realised after the appointed day notwithstanding that the realisations pertain to a period prior to the appointed day.
(2)
The Central Government or the Government company, as the case may be, may make a claim to the Commissioner with regard to every payment made by it after the appointed day for discharging any liability of the Company, in relation to any period prior to the appointed day; and every such claim shall have priority, in accordance with the priorities attaching, under this Act, to the matter in relation to which such liability has been discharged by the Central Government or the Government company.
(3)
Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the liabilities of the Company in respect of any transaction prior to the appointed day, which have not been discharged on or before the specified date, shall be the liabilities of the Company.
17. Claims to be made to the Commissioner.-
Every person having a claim against the Company shall prefer such claim before the Commissioner within thirty days from the specified date:
Provided that if the Commissioner is satisfied that the claimant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the claim within the said period of thirty days, he may entertain the claim within a further period of thirty days and not thereafter.
18. Priority of claims.-
The claims arising out of the matters specified in the Schedule shall have priorities in accordance with the following principles, namely:-
(a)
category I will have precedence over all other categories and category II will have precedence over category III, and so on;
(b)
the claims specified in each of the categories, shall rank equally and be paid in full, but, if the amount is insufficient to meet such claims in full, they shall abate in equal proportions and be paid accordingly;
(c)
the question of discharging any liability with regard to a matter specified in a lower category shall arise only if a surplus is left after meeting all the liabilities specified in the immediately higher category.
19. Examination of claims.-
(1)
On receipt of the claims made under section 17, the Commissioner shall arrange the claims in the order of priorities specified in the Schedule and examine the same in accordance with such order of priorities.
(2)
If, on examination of the claims, the Commissioner is of the opinion that the amount paid to him under this Act is not sufficient to meet the liabilities specified in any lower category, he shall not be required to examine the liabilities in respect of such lower category.
20. Admission or rejection of claims.-
(1)
After examining the claims with reference to the priority set out in the Schedule, the Commissioner shall fix a date on or before which every claimant shall file the proof of his claim, failing which he shall be excluded from the benefit of the disbursements made by the Commissioner.
(2)
Not less than fourteen days notice of the date so fixed shall be given by advertisement in one issue of the daily newspaper in English language and in one issue of the daily newspaper in the regional language as the Commissioner may consider suitable, and every such notice shall call upon the claimant to file the proof of his claim with the Commissioner within the time specified in the advertisement.
(3)
Every claimant who fails to file the proof of his claim within the time specified by the Commissioner shall be excluded from the disbursements made by the Commissioner.
(4)
The Commissioner shall, after such investigation as may, in his opinion, be necessary and after giving the Company an opportunity of refuting the claim and after giving the claimant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, in writing, admit or reject the claim in whole or in part.
(5)
The Commissioner shall have the power to regulate his own procedure in all matters arising out of the discharge of his functions, including the place or places at which he will hold his sittings and shall, for the purpose of making any investigation under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:-
(a)
the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath;
(b)
the discovery and production of any document or other material object producible as evidence;
(c)
the reception of evidence on affidavits;
(d)
the issuing of any commission for the examination of witnesses.
(6)
Any investigation before the Commissioner shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) and the Commissioner shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).
(7)
A claimant who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner may prefer an appeal against the decision to the principal civil court of original jurisdiction within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the registered office of the Company is situated:
Provided that where a person who is a Judge of a High Court is appointed to be the Commissioner, the appeal shall lie to the High Court at Calcutta and such appeal shall be heard and disposed of by not less than two Judges of that High Court.
21. Disbursement of money by Commissioner to claimants.-
After admitting a claim under this Act, the amount due in respect of such claims shall be paid by the Commissioner to the person or persons to whom such sums are due, and, on such payment, the liability of the Company in respect of such claim shall stand discharged.
22. Disbursement of amounts to the Company.-
(1)
If, out of the monies paid to him in relation to the undertakings of the Company, there is a balance left after meeting the liabilities as specified in the Schedule, the Commissioner shall disburse such balance to the Company.
(2)
Where any machinery, equipment or other property has vested in the Central Government or a Government company under this Act, but such machinery, equipment or other property does not belong to the Company, it shall be lawful for the Central Government or the Government company to continue to possess such machinery, equipment or other property on the same terms and conditions under which they were possessed by the Company immediately before the 4th day of May, 1972.
23. Undisbursed or unclaimed amount to be deposited with the general revenue account.-
Any money paid to the Commissioner which remains undisbursed or unclaimed for a period of three years from the last day on which the disbursement was made, shall be transferred by the Commissioner to the general revenue account of the Central Government; but a claim to any money so transferred may be preferred to the Central Government by the person entitled to such payment and shall be dealt with as if such transfer had not been made, the order, if any, for payment of the claim being treated as an order for the refund of the revenue.
24. Assumption of liability.-
(1)
Where any liability of the Company arising out of all or any of the items specified in category I, category II, category III or category IV of the Schedule are not discharged fully by the Commissioner out of the amount paid to him under this Act, the Commissioner shall intimate in writing to the Central Government the extent of the liability which remains undischarged, and that liability shall be assumed by the Central Government.
(2)
The Central Government may, by order, direct the Government company to take over any liability assumed by that Government under sub-section (1), and on receipt of such direction, it shall be the duty of the Government company to discharge such liability.