As we all know, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has come down heavily on those Companies which have violated the Provisions of Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013. According to the provisions of Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Section 167 of the Companies Act, 2013 where a Company has defaulted in filing its Annual Forms and Annual Returns for a continuous period of three years, the Directors of the Company are not eligible for reappointment in the same Company and also can't be appointed in any other Company for a period of 5 years. As of now, there are more than 3 Lakhs Directors who have been disqualified and as per Rule 14 of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 every Director shall intimate the Company about his disqualification in Form DIR-8.
Practically Industries are facing a lot of problems to file their documents since the disqualified Directors can't sign any of the documents. Therefore many industries, defaulting Companies and their Directors have made representation to the Central Government to give them an opportunity to clear their defaults. Thus the Central Government has in exercise of its powers under Section 403, 459 and 460 of the Companies Act, 2013 has introduced a Scheme called the 'Condonation of Delay Scheme, 2018' which provides the Defaulting Companies an opportunity to clear their defaults.
CONDONATION OF DELAY SCHEME, 2018
1. The Scheme shall come into force with effect from 01.01.2018 and is valid till 31.03.2018
2. This Scheme is valid for the Defaulting Companies other than those whose name is struck off from the Register of Companies under Section 248(5) of the Companies Act, 2013.
3. The Documents that are covered to be filed under the Scheme are-
- Form AOC-4, Form AOC-4(Xbrl), Form AOC(CFS), Form 23AC and 23ACA, Form 23AC and 23ACA(Xbrl)
- Form MGT-7 and Form 20B
- Form ADT-1/23B
- Form 66
4. The DIN of the disqualified Directors will be valid till the period of the Scheme.
5. The Defaulting Companies can file above documents which are pending till 30.06.2017 along with the payment of fees and additional fees under Section 403 of the Companies Act, 2013.
6. The Defaulting Companies shall seek for Condonation of Delay by filing Form e-CODS along with a fee of Rs. 30,000/- which will be available on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs at www.mca.gov.in from 20.02.2018.
7. For the Companies whose name has been struck off from the register of companies under Section 248(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 and have made application under Section 252 for their revival, the Director's DIN shall be reactivated only after the order of NCLT for revival subject to the Company filing their above overdue documents.
8. Those Companies who have not availed the scheme, the Registrar of Companies shall take necessary actions against them.
9. However, in respect of those Companies which have filed their overdue Documents the Registrar of Companies shall withdraw the prosecution pending before the concerned Courts for all the Documents filed under the Scheme.
10. However, it is to be noted that this Scheme is without prejudice to the provisions contained under Section 167(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 and all the civil or criminal activities, if any, of such disqualified Directors.
CAclubindia
