INSOLVENCYInsolvency practitioner applying to be removed as office holder - application to be granted even if office holder continuing to practise - creditors to be informed by advertisementCork v Ralph: ChD (Neuberger J): 13 December 2000The applicant was a licensed insolvency practitioner who had 116 appointments as administrator, supervisor, liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy in relation to various insolvencies.

He applied for his removal from those offices on the ground that he had moved to a new firm.

In order to minimise costs, he also applied for permission to inform the creditors of the change of office holder through an advertisement rather than individual letter.Mark Arnold (instructed by Richards Butler) for the applicant.

The respondent did not appear and was not represented.Held, granting both applications, that notwithstanding the dictum of Chadwick J in In re Sankey Furniture Ltd [1995] 2 BCLC 594 each application had to be judged on its own merits and an office holder could be replaced even if he continued to practise as an insolvency practitioner; that in the circumstances of the instant case it was appropriate to make the order sought; that a power to notify creditors of a change of office holder by advertisement was suggested by rules 4.102(5) and 4.103(4) of the Insolvency Rules 1986 and the provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986; and that, since it was by far the cheapest option, the creditors should be informed of the change of office holder by an advertisement in The London Gazette.