The Office of the Official Liquidator is a field office Under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India and is attached to the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka for functioning. The Official Liquidator, is appointed by the central government and is a whole time officer.

The Karnataka High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The High Court of Karnataka is established under the Mysore High Court Act, 1884. The principal bench of High Court of Karnataka is at Bangalore, and also at Dharwad and Gulbarga, but the company court sits only at Bangalore.

Functions of the Official Liquidator :-

When a company is ordered to be wound up by the High Court, the Official Liquidator is appointed as the Liquidator in terms of provisions of Sections 449/450 of the Companies Act, 1956, the Official Liquidator generally performs the following functions.

The Primary functions of the Official liquidator are :

i) To take possession of the companys assets, books of accounts, etc.

ii) To administrate the assets of companies under liquidation,

iii) liquidate/sell the assets of the company and realize all debts of companies under liquidation as per the Companies Act, 1956 with the directions of the High Court which is the Company Court,

iv) Distribution of sale proceeds as dividend among the various creditors, contributories and other stakeholders of the companies,

v) Finally dissolve such companies under section 481 of the Companies Act, 1956, after their affairs are completely concluded.

The liquidation proceedings are conducted in terms of Provisions of Sections contained in Chapter VII of the Companies Act, 1956 and as per the procedure of liquidation as prescribed under the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959. These rules are approved by the Supreme Court of India and notified by the Central Government.

The Central Government Under Section 448 appoints the Official Liquidator as a Junior Administrative Grade level officer who belongs to Indian Company Law Service (ICLS) and heads the office, which has an allotted staff strength of 17 (including 3 officers). The Official Liquidator reports to the High Court in all matters regarding winding up and amalgamation of companies and in all other administrative matters to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs New Delhi, through the Regional Director, South Eastern Region, Hyderabad.