Government Working On Amnesty Scheme For Disqualified Firms, Directors
Disqualified directors may get an opportunity to become compliant.
The government is working on an amnesty scheme for the more than two lakh companies and three lakh directors disqualified in September by giving them a chance to make the required disclosures, two people aware of the development told BloombergQuint.
Registration of these companies was cancelled for not filing returns or financial statements for three straight years. As a result, directors on the boards of these firms stood disqualified. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is likely to notify a Condonation of Delay Scheme, 2018 to give them an opportunity to rectify the default, the people quoted above said.
A draft version of the scheme was presented before the Delhi High Court on Tuesday in the wake of several writ petitions seeking relief from the disqualification. BloombergQuint has reviewed a copy of the draft.
The companies whose names have not been struck off by the Registrar of Companies can get relief by submitting certain documents, according to the draft.
For those already deregistered, the draft allows reactivation of the director identification number only if ordered by the National Company Law Tribunal and on filing of all overdue documents. The requirement of an NCLT order may be done away with in the final version of the scheme, the people present at the Delhi High Court told BloombergQuint.
The scheme is likely to offer a window between January and March 2018 according to the draft. The ministry will issue Form e-CODS once the final scheme is notified. The companies will have to pay a fee of Rs 30,000 along with the following documents:
- A form for filing the annual return by a company having a share capital.
- Particulars of annual return for a company not having a share capital.
- Forms for filing balance sheet/financial statement and profit and loss account.
- A form for submitting compliance certificate with the Registrar of Companies.
- A form for intimation for appointment of auditors.
Currently company law allows a company to appeal its deregistration at the NCLT. It also provides for the condonation of delay by government in case of late filings. It’s under this provision that such a scheme was also made available for a brief period in 2014 giving such companies the opportunity to rectify their violation.