Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has imposed a penalty on the signatories of AT&T Communication Services India Private Limited for a defect in filing e-form AOC-4 XBRL.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS,
OFFICE OF REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES,
NCT OF DELHI & HARYANA
4TH FLOOR, IFCI TOWER, 61, NEHRU PLACE, NEW DELHI -110019
ORDER OF PENALTY PURSUANT TO RULE 8(3) OF THE COMPANIES (REGISTRATION OFFICES AND FEES) RULES, 2014 IN THE MATTER OF AT & T COMMUNICATION SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (U64203DL1996PTC078375)
1. Appointment of Adjudicating Officer: –
Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide its Gazette Notification No. A-42011/112/2014- Ad.II, dated 24.03.2015 appointed Registrar of Companies, NCT of Delhi & Haryana as Adjudicating Officer in exercise of the powers conferred by section 454(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 (hereinafter known as Act) r/w Companies (Adjudication of Penalties) Rules, 2014 for adjudging penalties under the provisions of this Act.
2. Company: –
Whereas the company viz. AT & T COMMUNICATION SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (herein after known as ‘company’) is a registered company with this office under the provisions of section 7 of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office as per MCA21 Register address at 13th Floor, Mohan Dev Building, 13, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi, Central Delhi,110001, India. The financial & other details of the subject company for F.Y. 2021-2022 as available on MCA-21 portal is stated as under:
| S. No. | Particulars | Details |
| 1. | Paid up capital (in millions) | Rs. 28,89,915 |
| 2. | a. Revenue from operation (in millions) | Rs. 8,493.32 |
| b. Other Income (in millions) | Rs. 181.11 | |
| c. Profit for the Period (in millions) | Rs. 1339.15 | |
| 3. | Holding Company | YES |
| 4. | Subsidiary Company | NO |
| 5. | Whether company registered under Section 8 of the Act? | NO |
| 6. | Whether company registered under any other special Act? | NO |
3. Facts about the Case: –
I. This office is in receipt of a suo-moto application vide GNL-1 eform SRN F57857120 dated 25.01.2023 filed by the company regarding adjudication of the defect in filing of e-form AOC-4 XBRL vide SRN T56706922 dated 28.10.2021. It is inter alia stated that company had erroneously reported the total amount of turnover from its principal product or services under the code 8517 (i.e. current line system), which came into the attention of the company when it received the Show Cause Notice from the Cost Audit Branch of Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 09.05.2021.
II. Accordingly, in order to get some clarification, a letter was sent to company on 03.2023. In response, replies have been received on 01.04.2023, 28.04.2023 & 12.05.2023 from the company which includes a certificate from a Shri Abnish Babu Gaur, CA (Membership no: 092594) who has certified HSN code wise break up of Annual Turnover for the F.Y. 2020-21 as under:
| 1 | Name of the Company | AT&T Communication Services India Private Limited | ||
| 2 | CIN of the Company | U64203DL1996PTC078375 | ||
| 3 | Financial Year | 2020-21 | ||
| 4 | Annual turnover of the company | 9,545,318,796 | ||
| 5 | 4 digit CETA heading wise annual turnover of the company: | |||
| HSN Code List | Amount (INR) | Description | ||
| 9985 | Services | 5,105,166,241 | Support Services | |
| 9983, 9984, 9987, 9971, 9972 and 9973 | Services | 4,285,281‘223 | 9983: Other Professional, Technical And Business Services
9984: Telecommunications, Broadcasting And Information Supply services 9987: Maintenance, repair and installation (except construction) 9971: Financial and related services |
|
| 3926 | Goods | 36,381 | Articles of plastics and articles of other materials of heading | |
| 4907 | Goods | 124,208 | Unused postage | |
| 8302 | Goods | 256,525 | Base metal mountings | |
| 8471 | Goods | 5,647,622 | Automatic data-processing machines | |
| 8473 | Goods | 3,279,361 | Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases and the like) | |
| 8504 | Goods | 1,099,037 | Electrical transformers, static converters, and inductors; | |
| 8517 | Goods | 139,219,457 | Telephone sets | |
| 8523 | Goods | 479,934 | Discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, “smart cards” and other media for the recording of sound | |
| 8536 | Goods | 4,744 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits | |
| 8537 | Goods | 119,484 | Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases | |
| 8542 | Goods | 283,712 | Electronic integrated circuits; parts thereof | |
| 8543 | Goods | 2,071,300 | Electrical machines and apparatus | |
| 8544 | Goods | 924,654 | Insulated “incl. enamelled or anodised” wire, cable “incl. coaxial cable” and other insulated electric conductors | |
| 8644 | Goods | 32,353 | import data and export data solutions meet your actual import and export requirements | |
| 9403 | Goods | 1,292,560 | Furniture and parts thereof, n.e.s. (excluding seats and medical, surgical, dental or veterinary furniture) | |
III. That as per reply submitted it is observed that company had erroneously reported the total amount of turnover from its principal product or services under the code 8517 in the said AOC-4 XBRL for F.Y. 2020-21, instead of reporting the same in the following manner:
| SI No | HSN Codes/ ITC Codes | Description |
| 1. | 9985 | Support services |
| 2. | 9973,9983,9984, 9985, 987, 4907, 8302 | Managed Services Network |
IV. A show cause notice was issued to the company and its signatories on 31.05.2023 against which reply was submitted by the company on 09.06.2023 and it was reiterated that company had erroneously reported the total amount of turnover from its principal product or services (i.e. support services and managed network services) under the code 8517 in the e form AOC-4 XBRL for F.Y. 2020-21 (SRN T56706922).
V. That the Adjudicating Officer has reasonable cause to believe that there is a default /non-compliance of the provision of Rule 8(3) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 and as such there is no specific penalty under these rules. Hence, provision of section 450 of the Companies Act, 2013 gets attracted.
4. The relevant provision of Rule and Act are as under:
Rules8 (3) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 The authorised signatory and the professional, if any, who certify e-form shall be responsible for the correctness of the contents of e-form and correctness of the enclosures attached with the electronic form.
Section 450 of the COMPANIES ACT, 2013 (Punishment where no specific penalty or punishment is provided)
If a company or any officer of a company or any other person contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, or any condition, limitation or restriction subject to which any approval, sanction, consent, confirmation, recognition, direction or exemption in relation to any matter has been accorded, given or granted, and for which no penalty or punishment is provided elsewhere in this Act, the company and every officer of the company who is in default or such other person shall be liable to a penalty of ten thousand rupees, and in case of continuing contravention, with a further penalty of one thousand rupees for each day after the first during which the contravention continues, subject to a maximum of two lakh rupees in case of a company and fifty thousand rupees in case of an officer who is in default or any other person.
5. Adjudication of penalty: –
i. The subject company does not get covered under the purview of small company as defined u/s 2(85) of the Act. Hence, the benefit of section 446B would not be applicable on the company.
ii. With respect to the facts of the case and submissions made, it is noted that Sh. Ankur Dua, (Director) and Sh. CA Saurav Kumar Khandelwal (certifying professional) had filed e-form AOC-4 XBRL vide SRN T56706922 dated 28.10.2021 with incorrect information. Pursuant to Rule 8 of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 r/w Section 450 of the Act, signatories of said e form are liable for correctness of the content of e-form AOC-4 XBRL. Accordingly, signatories are liable for penalty.
iii. Now in exercise of the powers conferred on the undersigned vide Notification dated 24th March, 2015 and having considered the reply submitted on 09.06.2023 in response to the notice issued vide letter dated 31.05.2023, hereby impose the penalty on the signatory for defect in e-form AOC-4 pursuant to Rule 8(3) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 r/w Section 450 of the Companies Act, 2013:
| Violation section | Penalty imposed on signatory(s) | Penalty specified under section 450 of the Act |
| A | B | C |
| Rule 8(3) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 | Ankur Dua, (Director) (signatory of eform AOC-4 XBRL SRN T56706922) | Rs. 10,000 |
| Saurav Kumar Khandelwal, (signatory/Certifying Professional of eform AOC4 XBRL SRN T56706922) | Rs. 10,000 |
6. Order:
a. Names of parties as mentioned in the table above are hereby directed to pay the penalty amount as per column no. ‘C’ therein. In case of parties other than company, such amount is required to be paid out of their own
b. The said amount of penalty shall be paid through online by using the website mca.gov.in (Misc. head) in favor of “Pay & Accounts Officer, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi, within 90 days of receipt of this order, and intimate this office with proof of penalty paid.
c. Appeal against this order may be filed with the Regional Director (NR), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, B-2 Wing, 2nd Floor, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003 within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of this order, in Form ADJ [available on Ministry website www.mca.gov.in] setting forth the grounds of appeal and shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the order. [Section 454(5) & 454(6) of the Act read with Companies (Adjudicating of Penalties) Rules, 2014].
d. Your attention is also invited to section 454(8) of the Act in the event of non-compliance of this order.
Order No. ROC/D/Adj/Order/AT&T/2924-2927 Dated: 25/07/2023
