Appointment of a sole representative

(1) Every licensee may, within three months of the receipt of an order under section 4, sub-section (1), intimating the vesting date or, in the case of an undertaking taken over, within three months of the commencement of this Act, appoint an individual who may be the managing agent or a director or an officer of the licensee or any other individual to act as his sole and accredited representative in connexion with the handing over of the undertaking or the fixed assets, as the case may be, to the Government and performing on behalf of the licensee the functions hereinafter specified. (2) Where the licensee is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1913 (Central Act VII of 1913), the appointment of the accredited representative shall be made by the shareholders of the company at a meeting specially convened for the purpose. (3) Nothing in the foregoing sub-sections shall be deemed to require a licensee of an undertaking taken over, who has appointed an individual as his sole and accredited representative, to make a fresh appointment after the commencement of this Act; and the said representative shall be deemed for all purposes to be the accredited representative appointed under the foregoing sub-sections. (4) Where the accredited representative resigns or dies or becomes incapable of acting or is, in the opinion of the Government, incompetent or dishonest or where the appointment of such representative is set aside or declared void by competent authority, the Government shall call upon the licensee to appoint within six weeks, another individual as his accredited representative. (5) The remuneration of, and the expenditure incurred by, the accredited representative shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, payable from the compensation deposited or deemed to have been deposited under this Act and shall have and shall be deemed always to have had priority over all other debts and liabilities. (6) All assurances conveyed, and all statements made, by such representative (inclusive of a representative whose appointment is subsequently set aside or declared void by competent authority) shall be binding on the licensee. (7) Where the licensee does not appoint an individual to act as his sole and accredited representative under sub-section (1) or sub-section (4), the functions hereinafter assigned to the accredited representative shall be performed by the licensee; and all references in the rest of this Act to the accredited representative shall be construed as references to the licensee and any reference to a period of time to be reckoned from the date of appointment of the accredited representative shall, in such a case, be reckoned from the last date on which such accredited representative could have been appointed.