The Registrar of Companies, Ranchi, passed an adjudication order under Section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013, imposing penalties for violation of Section 173 relating to failure to hold mandatory Board Meetings. During inspection and verification of MCA records, no evidence was found to show that the company had held any Board Meetings since its incorporation, nor were statutory documents available to substantiate compliance. This was treated as a continuing default of Section 173(1), which mandates the first Board Meeting within 30 days of incorporation and a minimum number of meetings each year with prescribed gaps. The company’s officers admitted lapses, citing financial constraints, limited operations, and lack of professional support, but these explanations were rejected as afterthoughts and not valid grounds for non-compliance. Consequently, penalties were imposed on the directors as officers in default under Section 173(4). The order directs rectification of defaults and payment of penalties within 90 days, provides a right to appeal within 60 days, and warns of further penal consequences for non-payment.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
ROC Ranchi
ROC-cum-Official Liquidator, Ministry Of Corporate Affairs, Mangal Tower, 4th floor, Old Hazaribagh Road, Near Kanta Toli Chowk, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, 834001
Phone: 0651-2531811,2531401
E-mail: roc.ranchi@mca.gov.in
Order ID: PO/ADJ/02-2026/RN/01588 | Dated: 06/02/2026
ORDER FOR ADJUDICATION OF PENALTY UNDER SECTION 454 OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 (‘THE ACT’) FOR VIOLATION OF SECTION 173(4) OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013.
A. Appointment of Adjudicating Officer:
Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide its Gazette notification number S.O. 831(E) dated 24/03/2015 appointed undersigned as Adjudicating Officer in exercise of the powers conferred by section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013 [herein after known as Act] read with Companies (Adjudication of Penalties) Rules, 2014 for adjudging penalties under the provisions of this Act.
B. Company details:
In the matter relating to SWETA FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED [herein after known as Company] bearing CIN U92490JH2021PTC016455, is a company registered with this office under the Provisions of the Companies Act, 2013/1956 having its registered office situated at C/O VINAY KUMAR, HOUSE NO M-5 HARMU HOUSING COLONY NA RANCHI RANCHI JHARKHAND INDIA 834002
Individual details:
In the matter relating to SHASHANK SHEKHAR…….
In the matter relating to MAYANK SHEKHAR……
C. Provisions of the Act:
Every officer of the company whose duty is to give notice under this section and who fails to do so shall be liable to a penalty of twenty-five thousand rupees
D. Facts about the case:
1. Default committed by the officers in default/noticee – As per Section 173 (1) of the Companies Act, 2013, every company shall hold the first meeting of the Board of Directors within thirty days of the date of its incorporation and thereafter hold a minimum number of four meetings of its Board of Directors every year in such a manner that not more than one hundred and twenty days shall intervene between two consecutive meetings of the Board.
During inspection of the registered office of the Company, IO did not find any documents in respect of holding of Board Meetings and after examination of the records available at MCA Portal, no such documents, e.g. MGT-7, AOC-4 or other records were found in support of holding of Board Meetings in the company since the date of incorporation of the Company.
Hence, it is deemed that the Company has not held any Board Meeting since incorporation, which leads to violation of the provision of section 173(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, since the date of Incorporation of the Company.
Hence, the company and its officers-in-default namely (i) Shashank Shekhar and (ii) Mayank Shekhar are liable for penal action under 173(4) of the Companies Act, 2013, since the date of incorporation of the Company.
2. .
Order:
1. The company and its officers vide response letter no. SFPL/01-26/03 dated 02/01/26 have admitted that due to financial constraints, limited operations and lack of professional support the company could not ensure that all the past minutes and agenda papers were readily made available to the IO, during his registered office visit. Hence, it is clear that the officers were at default at the time of inspection. Rest responses appears to be afterthought.
Therefore, penalty is imposed against the officers of the company in terms of section 173(4) of the Companies Act, 2013.
2. The details of penalty imposed on the company, officers in default and others are shown in the table below:
| (A) | Name of person on whom penalty imposed (B) | Rectification of Default required
(C) |
Penalty Amount
(D) |
Additional Penalty (E) (*Per day of continuing default i.e. date of rectification of default less order issue date) | Maximum limit for Penalty (F) |
| 1 | SHASHANK SHEKHAR having DIN as 06671517 | 25000 | 0 | 25000 | |
| 2 | MAYANK
SHEKHAR having DIN as 06671535 |
25000 | 0 | 25000 |
3. The notified officers in default/noticee shall rectify the default mentioned above and pay the penalty, so applicable within 90 days of receipt of the order.
4. The notified officers in default/noticee shall pay the penalty amount via ‘e-Adjudication’ facility which can be accessed through the respective login IDs on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs and upload the copy of paid challan / SRN of e-filing (if applicable) on the ‘e-Adjudication’ portal itself. It is also directed that the penalty so imposed upon the officers in default shall be paid from their personal sources/income.
5. Appeal against this order may be filed in writing with the Regional Director, RD Kolkata within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of this order, in Form ADJ setting for the grounds of appeal and shall be accompanied by a certified copy of this order [Section 454 (5) & 454 (6) of the Act, read with Companies (Adjudication of Penalties) Rules, 2014].
6. For penal consequences of non-payment of penalty within the prescribed time limit, please refer Section 454(8) of the Companies Act, 2013.
Himanshu Shekhar,
Registrar of Companies
ROC Jharkhand
