Section 134(8) Penalty Imposed for Omission of Auditor Remarks in Board Report: ROC Ahmedabad
The Registrar of Companies, Ahmedabad, issued an adjudication order under Section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013, for violation of Section 134(8) arising from non-compliance with Section 134(3)(f) for FY 2024-25. The company stated that its Board’s Report for FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 did not include the required explanations or comments on observations made by the statutory auditor regarding the audit trail (edit log) feature in the accounting software, attributing the omission to an inadvertent oversight. The order states that the adjudication proceedings relate only to FY 2024-25 and that separate proceedings may be initiated for FY 2023-24. The company admitted the offence in its reply dated 20.06.2026 and expressed readiness to pay the penalty. The adjudicating authority imposed a penalty of ₹3,00,000 on the company and ₹50,000 each on four officers in default. The order directs rectification of the default and payment of the penalty within 90 days through the MCA e-Adjudication facility, provides for an appeal before the Regional Director, Ahmedabad, within 60 days, and refers to Section 454(8) regarding non-payment of the penalty.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
ROC Ahmedabad
Registrar Of Companies, ROC Bhavan, Opp Rupal Park Society, Behind Ankur Bus Stop, Naranpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
India, 380013
Phone: 079-27438531
E-mail: roc.ahmedabad@mca.gov.in
Order ID: PO/ADJ/07-2026/AD/02515 Dated: 08/07/2026
ORDER FOR ADJUDICATION OF PENALTY UNDER SECTION 454 OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 (‘THE ACT’) FOR VIOLATION OF SECTION 134(8) OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013.
A. Appointment of Adjudicating Officer:
Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide its Gazette notification number S.O. 698(E) dated 10/02/2026 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 ARJUN JEWELLERS LIMITED [herein after known as Company] bearing CIN U36100GJ2020PLC111829, is a company registered with this office under the Provisions of the Companies Act, 2013/1956 having its registered office situated at OFFICE NO. 401, 4TH FLOOR, PRIDE CAPITAL JALARAM 1, STREET NO. 2, UNIVERSITY ROAD RAJKOT SAU UNI AREA RAJKOT RAJKOT GUJARAT INDIA 360005
Individual details:
In the matter relating to PRADIP MANSUKHBHAI LIMBASIYA ——–
In the matter relating to MANISHBHAI NATHUBHAI GHADIYA ——-
In the matter relating to RASWANTI MANISH GHADIYA——–
In the matter relating to HITESH BHAGVANJIBHAI VASOYA ——
C. Provisions of the Act:
(8) If a company is in default in complying with the provisions of this section, the company shall be liable to a penalty of three lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a penalty of fifty thousand rupees
D. Facts about the case:
1. Default committed by the officers in default/noticee – The company ARJUN JEWELLERS LIMITED and MANISHBHAI N. GHADIYA, HITESH B. VASOYA and RASWANTI M. GHADIYA have filed joint application under Section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013 in GNL-1 bearing SRN AC3856896 citing that Rule 11(g) of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, inter alia, requires the auditor to report whether the Company has used accounting software having an audit trail (edit log) facility and whether such feature was operated throughout the year without tampering. Further, Section 134(3)(f) of the Companies Act, 2013 requires the Board’s Report to contain explanations or comments on every qualification, reservation or adverse remark or disclaimer made by the statutory auditor in the audit report.”
Para 2 (vi) of Auditor’s Report for the Financial Year 2023-24 contained an observation on Audit Trail as under: “Based on our examination, the company, has used an accounting software which is operated by a third-party software service provider, for maintaining its books of account and in absence of the recording audit trail (edit log) facility we are unable to comment whether audit trail feature of the said software was enabled and operated throughout the year for all relevant transactions recorded in the software or whether there were any instances of the audit trail feature been tampered with.” Auditor’s Report para 1 (i)(vi) for the Financial Year 2024-25 contained an observation on Audit Trail as under; Based on our examination which included test check, the company has used accounting software for maintaining its books of accounts which have a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility. However, the same has not been operated throughout the year as the audit trail feature has been enabled from 1st January, 2025, in the respective software.
The feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility was not enabled in ERP software relating to billing and stock maintenance throughout the year”
Due to an inadvertent oversight, the Board?s Report for the FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25, did not include the requisite comments/explanation in respect to the remark/observation made by the Auditors in their Audit Report as referred in para 4.3 and 4.4 above, thereby resulting in non ? compliance with section 134(3)(f) of Companies Act, 2013.
Under the above circumstances, it is reveals that the company and officers at the relevant period have violated provisions of Section 134(3)(f) of The Companies Act, 2013 for the Financial Year 2023-24 and 2024-25.
This adjudication proceedings is initiated for the Financial Year 2024-25 only. For the non-compliance pertaining to Financial Year 2023-24, separate proceedings will be initiated in the best interest of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rules, made thereunder.
The Board’s Report for the Financial Year 2024?25 was signed on July 17, 2025. During the relevant period of the alleged default under Section 134(3)(f) of the Companies Act, 2013, the following individuals served as Directors or Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the Company: Mr. Manishbhai Nathubhai Ghadiya, Mr. Hitesh Bhagvanjibhai Vasoya, Ms. Raswanti Manish Ghadiya, and Mr. Pradip Mansukhbhai Limbasiya (in his capacity as the whole-time Company Secretary). Consequently, these individuals qualify as ‘officers who are in default’ and are liable to be penalized under Section 134(8) of the Act for the said financial year. Furthermore, separate adjudication proceedings may be initiated for any corresponding default during the Financial Year 2023?24 under identical circumstances.”
2. Hearing opportunity was provided in terms of Section 454(4) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rules made thereunder
E. Order:
1. The company vide reply/ letter dated 20.06.2026 submitted that they have admitted the offence and ready to pay the penalty as mentioned in the said show cause notice. Under the above-mentioned submission of the Applicants, below mentioned penalty imposed on the company/ directors / Officers in default:
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 | ARJUN JEWELLERS LIMITED having CIN as U36100GJ2020P LC111829 | 300000 | 0 | 300000 | |
| 2 | PRADIP MANSUKHBHAI LIMBASIYA having PAN as AGDPL8390H | 50000 | 0 | 50000 | |
| 3 | MANISHBHAI NATHUBHAI GHADIYA having DIN as 08656446 | 50000 | 0 | 50000 | |
| 4 | RASWANTI MANISH GHADIYA having DIN as 10846353 | 50000 | 0 | 50000 | |
| 5 | HITESH BHAGVANJIBHAI VASOYA having DIN as 11192927 | 50000 | 0 | 50000 |
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 Ahmedabad 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.
Keerthi Narayana,
Registrar of Companies
ROC Ahmedabad
