Registrar scrutiny under the NCLT Rules is limited to a...

Registrar scrutiny under the NCLT Rules is limited to a ministerial and procedural check for registration defects; it does not extend to deciding legal questions affecting party rights or the maintainability of a company petition. Questions such as whether the petitioning shareholders meet the statutory threshold, or whether exemption from that requirement can be granted, require judicial adjudication by the regular Bench. The Registry therefore acted beyond its competence in treating those issues as scrutiny defects and refusing registration. The petition was to be numbered, objections if any recorded, and the matter placed before the Bench; the refusal to register was quashed and the issue of maintainability remitted for judicial decision.

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