State of West Bengal vs Ganges Printing Ink Factory Ltd.

Ajoy Nath Ray, J.—This is an application where the only substantive prayer made is as follows:

(a) Leave be given to the Petitioner, the State of West Bengal, for acquisition of all assets, in West Bengal, of the Ganges Printing Ink Factory Limited (in liquidation), Calcutta Unit, by way of enactment of appropriate piece of legislation.

In my opinion, the prayer is misconceived as the same does not consider the essential split of sovereignty that has been made by the Constitution between the Legislature and the Judiciary, the Legislature is free to enact law within the framework of the Constitution. After such enactment has been made the Judiciary has the power to test such legislation as against the permissibility of the same on the basis of the applicable Articles of the Constitution and its basic structure.

Leave is prayer for the State of West Bengal for acquisition of assets of the company (in liquidation) by way of enactment of ''appropriate piece of legislation''. The question of such leave can neither be raised before a Court of Law nor be pronounced upon by a Court of Law as the Court would lack jurisdiction in that regard.

Mr. Anindya Mitra has said that such leaves were obtained in the past. If any applications of the present nature were made in the past then those applications musi have been equally misconceived as the present one on the same basis as the above.

Mr. Mitra has pointed out an order of the Company Court dated November 13, 1990, whereby the State Government was put at liberty to take out an application for necessary leave for framing of a scheme or purchasing of the assets of the company. There is a world of difference, which I hope does not require any emphasis of elaboration, between a scheme to be framed or a purchase from the liquidator to be effected by the State Government and a legislation to be effected by the State Legislature in exercise of its sovereign constitutional power.

If leave is sought for the purpose of obtaining previous blessings of the Court regarding the perhaps less money that might have to be paid under the proposed legislation as compensation for acquisition than the money that might have to be spent for bidding for and purchasing the assets of the company (in liquidation) on an open market competition, then such blessing this Court has no jurisdiction to offer or grant.

The application, accordingly, is dismissed.

There will be no order as to costs.

All parties and others concerned to act on a signed copy of this dictated order on the usual undertaking.