Moorthy Selvaraj v. Karupayee Ammel (As the Administratrix of the Estate of Karupaya Selvaraj, Deceased) and Others

Read the full judgment text of HCCW 416/2019 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 29 September 2021.

1. The petition will be listed for dismissal next Monday, 4 October 2021. So far as the costs are concerned, I will make the following order that the 1 st to 4 th Respondents pay the Petitioner’s costs of the proceedings up to and including 3 November 2020, thereafter, there be no order as to costs.

Case No.HCCW 416/2019[2021] HKCFI 2974[2021] 4 HKLRD 794
Court
High Court CFI
Date29 Sep 2021
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

HCCW 416/2019

[2021] HKCFI 2974

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

COMPANIES WINDING-UP PROCEEDINGS NO 416 OF 2019

________________

 

IN THE MATTER of section 724 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap 622) and section 177(1)(f) of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap 32)

  and
 

IN THE MATTER of GMT Industrial Limited

________________

BETWEEN    
  MOORTHY SELVARAJ Petitioner

and

  KARUPAYEE AMMEL (as the administratrix of the
estate of KARUPAYA SELVARAJ, deceased)
1st Respondent
  FAN RONG LI (as the administratrix of the estate of
SELVAM SELVARAJ, deceased)
2nd Respondent
  MOHAN SELVARAJ 3rd Respondent
  SHIVKUMAR SELVARAJ 4th Respondent
  GMT INDUSTRIAL LIMITED 5th Respondent

________________

Before: Hon Harris J in Chambers

Date of Hearing:  29 September 2021

Date of Decision:  29 September 2021

__________________

D E C I S I O N

__________________

1.The petition will be listed for dismissal next Monday, 4 October 2021. So far as the costs are concerned, I will make the following order that the 1st to 4th Respondents pay the Petitioner’s costs of the proceedings up to and including 3 November 2020, thereafter, there be no order as to costs.

2.My reasons are quite simple.  It would appear clear that the proceedings were commenced with a view to seeking a winding up of the Company.  The Petitioner at the time the petition was presented would not have been in a position to initiate a voluntary winding up process holding only 10% of the Company’s shares.

3.Once the Company had been put into voluntary winding up, the only issue would appear to have been the identity of the Liquidators. Whilst it is correct that the Petitioner seems to have eventually ended up with Liquidators he was satisfied would bring the degree of independence and thoroughness to the supervision of the liquidation that he wanted, it seems to me that the costs and complexity of the continuation of the winding up proceedings beyond November 2021, involved disproportionate work and costs given the availability to the Petitioner of an alternative route for challenging the initial Appointees as Liquidators.  For that reason after November 2020 I consider that the appropriate order is no order as to costs.

4.So far as the costs of this hearing are concerned, it seems to me that the order that is consistent with my decision on the substantive costs dispute is no order as to costs save that the Company’s costs should be paid out of the assets of the Company.

(Jonathan Harris)
Judge of the Court of First Instance
High Court

Mr Jonathan Ng, instructed by Cheung & Choy, for the petitioner

Ms Joyce Leung, instructed by Haldanes, for the 1st respondent

Mr Guy, of Ince & Co, for the 3rd respondent

Mr Terrence Tai, instructed by Oldham, Li & Nie, for the 5th respondent

The 2nd respondent was not represented and did not appear

The 4th respondent was not represented and did not appear