2021 (3) TMI 594

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.... (hereinafter, 'Nalini Limited'). Due to alleged non-compliance/default in Nalini Limited under Section 164(2)(a) of the Companies Act, 2013 i.e., non-filing of financial statements or annual returns for any continuous period of three financial years, the said Petitioners were disqualified as directors from 1st November, 2017 to 31st October, 2022. Their DINs and DSCs were de-activated. Nalini Limited has also been struck off from the Register of Companies. The Petitioners claim to be Directors in other active companies and also now wish to start a fresh business. 4. This Court has considered the legal position relating to activation of DIN/DSC numbers of directors of defaulting companies in Anjali Bhargava & Anr. v. UOI & Anr. [W.P.(C) 11....

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....ld. Thus, in cases where directors have been disqualified prior to 7thMay, 2018, the proviso to Section 167(1)(a) would not apply and the directors would continue to be directors in companies other than the defaulting company. The disqualification of such directors qua active companies would therefore be liable to be set aside and their DIN and DSC's reactivated. (b)Directors who have been disqualified post 7th May 2018, qua other `active' companies: As held in Mukut Pathak (supra), in all cases where the directors have been disqualified on or after 7th May, 2018, the proviso to Section 167 (1) (a) would apply and such directors would cease to be directors in all companies including the defaulting company. In March, 2020, in light of the ....

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.... the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as follows: "In furtherance of the Ministry's Circular No 11/2020, dated 24th March, 2020 and in order to facilitate the companies registered in India to make a fresh start on a clean slate, this Ministry has decide to take certain alleviative measures for the benefit of all companies." This scheme has been introduced in view of the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim to enable a fresh start to defaulting companies and directors of such companies. The disqualification of defaulting companies was a step which was taken sometime in 2016-17 in order to ensure that filing of regular returns and compliances are undertaken strictly as per the provisions of the Act. It was also meant to be a measure to ensure that....