On 22/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 22/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 22/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 31/01/2002.
Creditors’ meeting
151.
—(1) When a meeting is summoned by the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be, under section 79 of the Act, he shall fix the date and time and send a notice to each creditor at the address given in the creditor’s proof or, if the creditor has not proved, at the address given in the bankrupt’s statement of affairs, or at such last known address as notified to the Official Assignee or the trustee.
(2) Notice of any meeting summoned by the Official Assignee or the trustee shall be given to the creditors not less than 3 days before the day appointed for the meeting unless the Act or these Rules otherwise provide.
(3) The notice of meeting to creditors shall be in Form 16.
(4) Proxy forms shall be sent together with every notice summoning a creditors’ meeting.
152.
—(1) Where the court orders a meeting of creditors to be summoned —
(a)
the meeting shall be summoned as the court directs; and
(b)
the Registrar shall transmit a sealed copy of the order to the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be, who shall, not less than 3 days before the meeting, send a copy of the order to each creditor at —
(i)
the address given in the creditor’s proof; or
(ii)
if the creditor has not proved, the address given by the bankrupt in his statement of affairs or such last known address as notified to the Official Assignee or the trustee.
(2) An order of the court under paragraph (1) shall be in Form 17.
153. In the bankruptcy of a partnership, each set of separate creditors may appoint its own creditors’ committee and a committee appointed by the joint creditors shall be deemed to have been appointed also by any set of separate creditors who do not appoint a separate committee.
154. The proceedings at a meeting of creditors shall, unless the court otherwise orders, be valid, notwithstanding that some creditors have not received the notice summoning the meeting.
155. The Official Assignee or a person nominated by him or the trustee shall be the chairman at every meeting, except that the court may direct that the chairman at any subsequent meeting shall be such person as the meeting by ordinary resolution appoints.
156.
—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the costs of summoning and holding a meeting of creditors at the instance of any person other than the Official Assignee or the trustee shall be paid by that person, who shall deposit security for the payment with the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be.
(2) The sum to be deposited shall be such amount as the Official Assignee or the trustee determines to be appropriate and the Official Assignee or the trustee shall not be required to act without the deposit having been made.
(3) The costs of summoning and holding the meeting shall be payable out of the estate as an expense of the bankruptcy if the creditors at the meeting so resolve or the court so directs.
157. A creditors’ meeting shall not be competent to act for any purpose, except —
(a)
the election of a chairman;
(b)
the admission by the chairman of creditors’ proofs, for the purpose of their entitlement to vote; and
(c)
the adjournment of the meeting,
unless there are present in person or by proxy at least 3 creditors, or all the creditors if their number does not exceed 3, being in either case persons entitled to vote.
158.
—(1) The chairman at any meeting may, in his discretion, and shall if the meeting so resolves, adjourn it to such time and place as seems to him to be appropriate in the circumstances.
(2) If within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting a quorum of creditors is not present or represented, the chairman may adjourn the meeting.
159.
—(1) A creditor may vote either in person or by proxy.
(2) A person below 21 years of age shall not be appointed as a proxy.
(3) No form of proxy shall be used at any meeting except that which is sent out with the notice summoning the meeting.
(4) A proxy given by a creditor shall be sufficiently executed if it is signed by a person in the creditor’s employment having a general authority to sign for him, or by the creditor’s authorised agent if the creditor is resident abroad.
(5) The creditor’s authority shall be in writing and, if required, shall be produced to the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be.
(6) A creditor may give a general proxy in Form 18 to his manager or clerk or any other person in his regular employment, in which case the instrument of proxy shall state the relation in which the person to act thereunder stands to the creditor.
(7) A creditor may give a special proxy in Form 19 to any person to vote at any specified meeting or adjournment thereof for or against any specific resolution.
(8) A creditor may appoint the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be, to act as his general or special proxy.
160. The proxy of a creditor who is blind or incapable of writing may be accepted if —
(a)
the creditor has placed his mark upon or signed it in the presence of a witness;
(b)
the witness has added his own signature, description and residence to the creditor’s mark or signature; and
(c)
all insertions in the proxy are in the handwriting of the witness, and he has certified at the foot of the proxy that all the insertions were made by him at the creditor’s request and in his presence before he attached his mark or signature.
161.
—(1) A proxy shall not be used unless it is deposited with the Official Assignee or the trustee, as the case may be, before the meeting at which it is to be used.
(2) A proxy shall be lodged with the Official Assignee or the trustee not later than 4 o’clock on the day before the meeting or adjourned meeting, at which it is to be used.
(3) A proxy given for a particular meeting may be used at any adjournment of that meeting.
162. Proxies used for voting at any meeting shall be retained by the chairman of the meeting.
163. No person acting under either a general or a special proxy shall vote in favour of any resolution which would directly or indirectly place himself, his partner or employer in a position to receive any remuneration out of the estate of the bankrupt otherwise than as a creditor rateably with the other creditors of the bankrupt.
164.
—(1) A person shall not be entitled to vote as a creditor at any meeting of creditors unless —
(a)
he has duly proved his debt under rule 165(1); and
(b)
the proof has been duly lodged before the time appointed for the meeting under rule 178.
(2) A creditor shall not vote in respect of a debt for an unliquidated amount, or any debt the value of which is not ascertained, except where the chairman agrees to put upon the debt an estimated minimum value for the purpose of entitlement to vote and admits his proof for that purpose.
(3) For the purpose of voting, a secured creditor shall, unless he surrenders his security, state in his proof the particulars of his security, the date when it was given and the value at which he assesses it, and shall be entitled to vote only in respect of the balance, if any, due to him after deducting the value of his security.
(4) If the creditor votes in respect of his whole debt, he shall be deemed to have surrendered his security unless the court, on application, is satisfied that the omission to value the security has arisen from inadvertence.
(5) A creditor shall not vote in respect of a debt on, or secured by, a current bill of exchange or promissory note, unless he is willing —
(a)
to treat the liability to him on the bill or note of every person who is liable on it antecedently to the bankrupt, and against whom a bankruptcy order has not been made (or, in the case of a company, which has not gone into liquidation), as a security in his hands; and
(b)
to estimate the value of the security and (for the purpose of entitlement to vote, but not for dividend) to deduct it from his proof.
(6) If a bankruptcy order is made against one partner of a firm, any creditor to whom that partner is indebted jointly with the other partners in the firm or any of them may prove his debt for the purpose of voting at any meeting of creditors, and shall be entitled to vote.
165.
—(1) The chairman of a meeting shall have the power to admit or reject a proof for the purpose of voting, but his decision shall be subject to appeal to the court.
(2) The application to the court by way of an appeal shall be filed within 14 days of the admission or rejection of the proof.
(3) If the chairman is in doubt whether the proof of a creditor should be admitted or rejected, he shall mark the proof as objected to and shall allow the creditor to vote, subject to the vote being declared invalid in the event of the objection being sustained.
(4) If on an appeal the chairman’s decision is reversed or varied, or a creditor’s vote is declared invalid, the court may order that another meeting be summoned, or make such other order as it thinks just.
(5) The chairman shall not be personally liable for costs incurred by any person in respect of an application to the court under this rule.
166.
—(1) The chairman at any creditors’ meeting shall cause minutes of the proceedings at the meeting, signed by him, to be retained by him as part of the records of the bankruptcy.
(2) He shall also cause to be made up and kept a list of all the creditors who attended the meeting.
(3) The minutes of the meeting shall include a record of every resolution passed including the particulars of all such resolutions.