Companies Act, 1990

PART IX

Companies under Court Protection

Amendments to the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990 .

180.—(1) The Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990 , is hereby amended as follows:

(a) by the substitution in section 3 (6) for “14 days” of “3 days”,

(b) by the insertion after section 5 (2) (f) of the following paragraph:

“(g) no order for relief shall be made under section 205 of the Principal Act against the company in respect of complaints as to the conduct of the affairs of the company or the exercise of the powers of the directors prior to the presentation of the petition.”,

(c) by the deletion in section 8 (3), of “, or past director,”,

(d) by the insertion in section 8 (3), after “Act”, where it secondly occurs, of “and ‘director’ includes any present or past director or any person connected, within the meaning of section 26 of the Companies Act, 1990, with such director, and any present or past shadow director”,

(e) by the insertion in section 8 of the following subsections:

“(5A) Without prejudice to its power under subsection (5), the court may, after a hearing under that subsection, make any order or direction it thinks fit, including a direction to the person concerned to attend or re-attend before the examiner or produce particular books or documents or answer particular questions put to him by the examiner, or a direction that the person concerned need not produce a particular book or document or answer a particular question put to him by the examiner.

(5B) Section 23 (1) of the Companies Act, 1990 shall apply for the purposes of this section.”,

(f) by the substitution in section 10 (1) of “Any” for “Where an order is made under this Act for the winding-up of the company or a receiver is appointed, any”,

(g) by the substitution, for section 16 (i), of the following:

“(i) his opinion as to whether the facts disclosed would warrant further inquiries with a view to proceedings under section 297 or 297A of the Principal Act (inserted by the Companies Act, 1990), or both,”,

(h) by the insertion in section 23 (5) (b), after “Government” of “, a local authority”,

(i) by the insertion in section 24 of the following subsection:

“(12) Notwithstanding subsection (4), or any other provision of this Act, where the examiner forms the opinion that the company will be able to survive as a going concern, nothing in this Act shall prevent the examiner from including, in a report under section 15 or 18, proposals which will not involve the impairment of the interests of members or creditors of the company, nor the court from confirming any such proposals.”.

(2) Section 244A of the Principal Act (inserted by section 125 of the Companies Act, 1990) and section 139 of the Companies Act, 1990, shall apply to a company under the protection of the court as they apply to a company being wound up, and any references in those sections to a liquidator or provisional liquidator shall be construed for the purposes of this subsection as a reference to an examiner.

(3) Sections 32 , 33 , 34 and 35 of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990 , are hereby repealed.