NON FILLING OF RETURNS FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS- ROC CANNOT STRIKE OFF
Shubham Budhiraja[1]
(NCLAT, Company Appeal (AT) No. 148 of 2020, 21.06.2021)
The company filed its Financials
for year 2015-16 but it failed to file financials for year 2016-17, 2017-18
& 2018-19 and thereafter ROC issued show cause notice to strike off the
company for non-filling of statutory returns for more than 2 years. The NCLT dismissed the order for
restoration but NCLAT allowed the restoration on ground that:
(I)
ROC cannot strike off the company when the
company is operational
(II)
The Non-filling of return was not intentional
but due to lack of knowledge on part of management and lack of professional
guidance
(III)
The Company is not defunct but operational and
it has various tangible and intangible assets, it has 23-25 employees to whom
it is paying regular salaries and the financials of company show that company
is doing its business and having turnover.
Hence, mere non filling of statutory return for more than 2 years
cannot mean that company is not operational and therefore the ROC order of
strike off is set aside
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