Section 43 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 provides a special evidentiary rule in winding-up proceedings. Under this section, every depositor of the banking company being wound up is deemed to have filed his claim for the amount shown in the banking company’s books as standing to his credit. What is the presumption that the High Court is required to make, and how may it be rebutted?

Section 43, as substituted by the Banking Companies (Amendment) Act, 1953, provides that in any winding-up proceeding every depositor shall be deemed to have filed his claim for the amount shown in the banking company’s books as standing to his credit. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Companies Act provisions relating to proof of debts, the High Court shall presume such claims to have been proved unless the official liquidator shows that there is reason for doubting the correctness of the amount. The burden of rebuttal lies on the official liquidator, not on the depositor. This pro-depositor provision eliminates the procedural burden on ordinary depositors of filing formal proofs of debt in every winding-up, recognising that the bank’s own books constitute sufficient prima facie evidence of the liability.