LAHORE, Feb 1: The Lahore High Court has extended till March 31 the date for liquidation of Taj Company. The court had earlier fixed Dec 31, 2004, for the winding up of the company.

However, the court observed that the date could be extended for payment to all depositors.

The company had paid Rs658.8 million to its 23,000 depositors since the appointment of three liquidators in June, 2003. However, the company published another advertisement on a court directive and received more claims from depositors from within the country and abroad.

Counsel Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry submitted that after the sale of property in Lahore, Karachi, Hub and on Sheikhupura Road, the company had about Rs196 million for payment to those depositors who could not submit their claims earlier.

A case for the company's liquidation was filed by the Corporate Law Authority in 1984 when the authority (now the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan) started receiving complaints from depositors that they were no longer getting profits on their investments.

Subsequent reports said that the company had a total liability of about Rs2.54 billion against assets worth Rs476.4 million. The court has directed the company to submit the latest report about the number of fresh claims and additional financial liability. The company has assured the court that the task of making payment to the remaining claimants would be completed up to March 31.