Comments
Companies that have failed to file annual returns with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for the past five years have been barred from filing any further documents.
This comes in the wake of several companies failing to file their balance sheets (BS), profit-and-loss (P&L) accounts statements and annual returns with the Ministry since 2006.
To make the move more effective, the Ministry has also informed the banks associated with the defaulting companies.
“These companies were filing only event-based information with the MCA as per their convenience and not filing annual returns. We sent them notices in the past two months and have now blocked them,” Mr D.K. Mittal, Secretary, told Business Line .
Large number
He, however, did not specify the number of defaulting companies. Neither could other Ministry officials ascertain the number, but they said it was ‘large'.
Until the companies update their information, they will not be able to file anything with the Registrar of Companies (ROC), said Mr Mittal.
“In order to ensure corporate governance and proper compliance of provisions of Companies Act 1956, it has been decided that no request, whether oral or in writing or through e-forms, for recording any event-based information/changes shall be accepted by the ROC from such defaulting companies, unless they file their updated BS and P&L accounts and annual returns with the ROC,” said the Ministry in a circular.
However, the companies will be allowed to file around 10 forms, including investor complaint form, Investor Education and Protection Fund money-deposit form, information from auditor to registrar, intimation of director identification number and particulars of annual return for the company not having share capital.
E-filing of companies whose directors serve on the boards of other companies will not be accepted, too. Company secretaries and auditors of the defaulting companies have been barred from certifying for these companies, till the defect is rectified. Further, the Ministry will co-ordinate with the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board to take action against the defaulting companies and their directors or officers.
Meanwhile, this does not apply to companies that could not file returns due to management dispute and have been marked as such by the ROC, said the Ministry.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.