In Prem Paul Verma & Anr. vs Union of India & Ors., the Delhi High Court has, for the petitioners, extended the last date of filing under the Condonation of Delay Scheme ( CODS-2018 ), till 15th May 2018.
In the Petition, the Counsel for the petitioner contended that the respondents had via a notice issued under Section 164(2)(a) of the Companies Act, 2013 disqualified the petitioners as Directors in the Companies in which they were directors. Also, the name of the Company was struck off from the Register of Companies under Section 248(1) of the Companies Act, 2013. The Writ Petition challenges the above actions of the respondent. The Court issued notices to the respondent and till the date of next hearing, the notices issued by the respondent were stayed.
The Court noted that under the CODS, 2018 the Department were accepting the returns under the Scheme only in e-format and because of the removal of names of their Companies in which the petitioners are directors, the Office of Registrar of Companies would not accept any e-fillings by those petitioners. In order to comply with the Scheme, the applicant company has to pay charges including the fee of Rs. 30,000/- for filing the application. The Counsel for the respondents asserted that it would not be possible for them to accept any charges for those companies.
On finding that the last date for filing the returns were on April 30th which falls on a gazette holiday and as 27th & 28th of April were also non-working days, the Court extended the date of filing till 15th May 2018.
Noting that several similar writ petitions are before the consideration of the Court, the Bench allowed petitioners, in whose favour interim orders stand passed, to file the compliances under the CODS-2018 Scheme as hard copies. The Court also instructed the respondents to preserved the filings and abide further orders of the Court.
Any charges which are payable under the CODS 2018 Scheme is instructed to be deposited in the Registry of the Court by way of fixed deposit receipt in the name of the Registrar General of the Court for a period of one year which shall be renewed rill further orders of the Court.
The Court made it clear that the Petitioners are entitled to avail the CODS-2018 Scheme on submission of the documents with the Registrar of Companies and deposit made in the Court. Such submission and deposit shall be deemed to be compliances with the requirements of the CODS-2018 Scheme. It was also made clear that the deposits under the CODS-2018 Scheme have to be made for and behalf of the Company by any one director. Other directors would not be required to duplicate the payments even though they may have filed separate writ petitions.
The Single Bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice C. Hari Shankar further clarified that the petitioners those who had already made deposits under the Scheme are not required to duplicate the payment or make deposits in the Court.
The Court concluded by directing the respondents to file separate individual counter affidavits within a period of six weeks.
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