Section 51A. At any time within the period of three years or the extension of such period by reason of the pendency of any suit, as provided in section fifty-one, such corporation may petition the supreme judicial or superior court for leave to distribute the whole or part of its assets to the stockholders entitled thereto, and, after notice by certified or registered mail to the secretary and to all known creditors and by publication once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city or town in which the principal office of the corporation is located, or in the county if no such newspaper is published in said city or town, the court may, after hearing, upon a finding that the interests of creditors, if any, and those of the commonwealth, if any, are reasonably protected, enter a decree permitting such distribution; and the directors shall not be subject to the liability set forth in section thirty-seven of chapter one hundred and fifty-six, on account of their declaration or assent to a dividend, including one or more liquidating dividends, to the stockholders entitled thereto, in accordance with said decree.