How to Apply for Directors’ Disqualification removal without Reviving Strike-Off Company?

The Indian economy is under severe stress due to COVID-19. The government is taking all measures to revive the economy. This is the reason they came up with Company Fresh Start Scheme 2020. Under this scheme, the owners of a company which is struck off from RoC can apply for its revival without paying heavy penalties for it. The directors of such companies can also apply for revocation of their disqualification. But one obvious question arises here is what are the options for directors whose company is not revived. Do they need to complete the ban period of five years for restarting their career or do they have other options?

As per the provisions mentioned in the Companies Act 2013, a director of a company can be disqualified for five years from the directorship of his/her company and also banned to join any other organisation as a director if his/her current organisation fails to submit their financial statement for a period of three years consecutively. To answer the questions raised in the previous sections we have to explore various aspects of the director disqualification removal. By the end of the article, you will be able to understand,

• On what grounds directors are disqualified from the organisation?
• Patna High Court’s perspective on CoDS scheme
• What are the remedies for disqualified directors?

We will also understand the process of removal of a director from the perspective of a directors’ disqualification removal case in Patna High Court. This will help us understand the general viewpoint of the judiciary on cases related to the removal of directors’ disqualification.

Different Grounds for Directors’ Disqualification

The Companies Act of 2013 required companies to furnish documents related to their finances and operations every year. Defaulting on submission of these documents for a continuous period of three years had stricter provisions of punishment compared to the previous version of Companies Act. The act considered the director of the company responsible for actions of the company and so, has a policy of strict actions against them in case their company defaults.

The directors of the company are responsible for the smooth operation of the company and therefore they are responsible for any action taken by the company that leads to failure in complying with the directions of Government. The following points will give information on rules or issues which can lead to directors’ disqualification,

• Any directors of the company who has been convicted under section 188 by the Court regarding party transections during last five years.
• If the directors fail to inform about their respective shares in any company held by them alone or in collaboration.
• If any director has applied for his/her adjudication as an insolvent or if the directors’ application for the same is still pending.
• If the director is convicted in any offence by the Court and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 6 months.
• If the organisation fails to redeem any debentures on their due date or fails to pay the interest due.
• If the company of the director has not filed its financial statements and annual returns for three years consecutively.
• If the company has failed to repay the deposit made to it or pay interest on those deposits.
• Failure to pay the declared dividend and continuing so for one year or more could also lead to disqualification of the company’s director.
• If any Court confirms that the director is not of sound mind.
• The Court also has the authority over the disqualification of directors’ who are undischarged insolvent.
• If any court or tribunal has earlier ordered the disqualification of the director.

Analysis of Patna High Court’s Order 

Ever since the norms for director disqualification have come into place the high Court’s throughout India are using flurry of writ petitions being filed for relief. Let’s understand how filing these Petitions have helped the petitioners in their cases through a case study of Innovine Infratech Private … vs The Union Of India & Ors in 2018.

“In this case, the petitioners were disqualified due to non-filing of annual statements, returns, and other relevant documents. The petitioners demanded that they must be allowed to use Condonation of Delay Scheme (CODS) for filing their documents and getting their DINs reactivated. The Patna High Court in their judgement gave liberty to those directors of the company whose DINs were still active that they furnish all the documents to the Registrar of Companies. The Court Observed that the directors should be allowed to use the CODS 2018 to comply by the norms of RoC and let the disqualified directors apply for reactivation of DIN, once the relevant documents are filed. ”

This judgement was instrumental for many directors to use as a reference for applying to CoDS. The judgement led to many directors using this scheme as a way to file the relevant document and escape the director disqualification. This judgement also showed that filing a writ petition can be really fruitful for removal of disqualification.

Ways in which Directors Can Seek Relief from Disqualification

During the initial few years of introduction of the new Companies Act, there were about 2.4 companies that were axed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) using the Companies Act in 2017. These companies started exploring the options for their revival and the directors hoped to get their DIN reactivated. When the MCA came up with the Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018, the company’s directors hoped to get their company revived without paying heavy penalties and apply for their disqualification removal.

In the year 2018, the Condonation of Delay Scheme (CODS) was introduced in which directors could file the relevant document to get their DINs reactivated. The scheme involved the payment of a moderate fee and condonation of hefty penalties due to defaulting on a payment. Many companies at that time used this scheme for revival and removal of directors’ disqualification. This is how this scheme worked:

• The disqualified directors were needed to submit all the statutory document with the RoC to get their DIN activated temporarily.
• The documents are submitted with the statutory fee prescribed in Section 403 of the Companies Act.
• The small fee needed was only 30000 Rs. With an e-CODS form and so saved companies form hefty penalties.

Present Day Remedies for relief

There were many directors and company owners who could not get advantage from CODS Scheme to revive their business and thus, their directors also missed the chance at the revival of their careers. The directors’ who failed to use this scheme for the removal of disqualification were left with two options.

• Apply in the National Companies Law Tribunal and hope to get company revival order. Once the company was revived, they could apply for the removal of their disqualification and reactivation of DIN. In this case, when the NCLT passed the order of company revival, then RoC used to verify this order and relevant documents of the directors. This procedure could only be followed if the owners of the companies wanted to revive it.
• The other option for directors who just wanted to activate their DIN without applying for the revival of their company was to apply for removal of disqualification in the respective High Court through a Writ Petition. The option of writing a Writ Petition to High court is attributed to constitutional rights conferred by Article 226 of the constitution to seek relief.

Hire an Experienced Representative 

Taking legal help to file a Writ Petition in the High Court is necessary considering the technicalities involved in the process. There are lots of details that should be considered before drafting the petition and only an experienced professional can handle this kind of job. Also, an expert professional from a legal firm will not only help you in the filing of the petition but also help in representing your case in the Court. An advocate from a reputed firm will attend all the hearing of the Court and put arguments effectively to ask for relief from disqualification. Once the Court grants a favourable order, the expert will help you in following the complete procedure mentioned in the order. He will also help you file all the necessary documents in RoC before activation of DIN.

If you are worried about the outcome of filing a Writ petition in high Court or confused whether it will bring positive results, then this should serve as good news to you. There have been many instances across High Courts from all over the country where director’s disqualification has been removed after hearing on Writ petition filed by them. The judiciary has granted interim relief to many directors and, quashed orders of RoC in some cases.

The Court is in general agreement with the aggrieved petitioners on the following points:

• Retrospective Application of Companies Act: In some cases, the Court also found the act being applied retrospectively for disqualification of directors. The Courts deemed this kind of application of act as unjustified.
• Contradictory Provisions in the Previous and New Act: The High Court finds it objectionable that the provisions of the Companies Act of 1956 did not have these regulations for the private companies and their directors, and so the new Act should not impose it on them in 2017.
• Order of RoC is Against Natural Justice: In most cases of directors’ disqualification, the aggrieved petitioners have mentioned that they never got any notice regarding their removal from RoC before the orders. Therefore, they never had a chance to clarify to RoC why they were not able to meet all the compliance standards of RoC. This is against the constitutional right of any individual as it doesn’t allow one person to show the cause of their actions and passes the order unilaterally.

So, you can see that judiciary has generally given a favourable decision to directors with valid reasons for defaulting. This should serve as a ray of hope for disqualified directors who are sceptical of filing writ petition for disqualification removal of their directorship. Just select an experienced legal firm that can represent your case efficiently and hope for a positive outcome.