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Case Law Details

Case Name : Scheme of amalgamation of Wadala Commodities Limited with Godrej Industries Limited (Bombay High Court)
Appeal Number : company summons for direction no . 256 of 2014
Date of Judgement/Order : 08/05/2014
Related Assessment Year :

CA Sandeep Kanoi, CS PC Agrawal

Bombay high court in scheme of amalgamation between Wadala Commodities Limited with Godrej Industries Limited has passed a judgment on postal ballot and e-voting. Court has observed that postal ballot and e-voting is an additional facility and cannot have the effect of dispensing the general meeting at all.

HC held that  Nothing could be more detrimental to shareholders’ rights than stripping them of the right to question, the right to debate, the right to seek clarification; and, above all, the right to choose, and to choose wisely. A vote is an expression of an opinion. That vote must reflect an informed decision. Dialogue and discourse are fundamental to the making of every such informed decision. Mr. Mehta’s submission seems to me to relegate shareholders, in the guise of greater inclusiveness, to a very distant second place in the scheme of corporate governance, seeing them  merely as a necessary evil. Nothing could be further from the mandate of corporate law and governance. We strive today to greater transparency; that means that more should be given the opportunity to speak and to exercise their rights as shareholders. But that cannot come at the price of their right to speak, to be heard, to persuade, even to cajole. What corporate governance demands is the government of the tongue, not the tyranny of a finger pressing a button.

There is one other matter that needs discussion. Mr. Mehta’s understanding of electronic voting was that it would be limited to people using the Internet to vote on the agenda business from remote locations. I disagree. There is nothing to so indicate. Rule 26 of the proposed Management & Administration Rules requires this facility of electronic voting to be made available to every listed company and a company having at least 1000 shareholders. Electronic voting is a method by which the votes cast by a large number of shareholders could be more accurately ascertained. That does not mean that  electronic voting cannot be permitted at the meeting itself. A shareholder at a remote location and a shareholder at a meeting will both be required to use the same portal to cast their votes. This necessitates a single integrated electronic system for voting. This is technologically feasible and, indeed, essential. It cannot be that at the meeting that there be no voting or poll, and that electronic votes or postal ballots cast earlier would be determinative. Those who vote by postal ballot or by electronic voting cannot, of course, be permitted to vote again at a meeting. But they also cannot be restrained from attending that meeting. A shareholder may hold strong views. He may vote by postal ballot or electronic means and then attend the meeting to persuade others. Other shareholders may be undecided and may prefer to attend the meeting. Greater inclusiveness demands the provision of greater facilities, not less; and certainly not the apparent giving of one ‘facility’ while taking away a right. There is no reason why members attending a meeting should not be allowed to use a bank of computers to digitally cast their votes just as they might do if they were voting from a remote location.

There is also a question about the determination of electronic votes cast. The rules seem to indicate that electronic voting must stop three days before the meeting. The Chairman of the meeting is to be given a tally of the electronic votes cast and the decision on any item of business is supposed to have been passed or not passed only on the basis of these electronic votes. Ex-facie, this is an untenable mechanism. If, as I have said, electronic voting is not limited to voting from a remote location but must also include electronic voting at the meeting in addition to postal ballots received, then it is a sum total of all these votes that must be taken into account.

This means that while a meeting must be held, provision must also be made for electronic voting at the meeting by those shareholders who desire it. Every shareholder being given that option of exercising their votes by postal ballot or by electronic voting, the latter being either from a remote location or at the meeting itself.

The concepts of electronic voting and postal ballots have been in use in other jurisdictions for several years, where similar concerns have been expressed. There is material to suggest that a very early entirely electronic meeting held in Delaware saw less than satisfactory shareholder participation. The question of not holding a meeting at all never arose. The importance of debate and deliberation is far too high, some have said, for it to be foregone altogether. Comments from Australia, also by Dr. Boros, are to the effect that even in a fully Court electronic meeting, there must be a “reasonable opportunity to participate” at the meeting. Voting is part of this opportunity, indicating that “participation” connotes something more than merely voting. If participation is not possible, then the electronic voting should not be used.

Conclusion

(a) All provisions for compulsory voting by postal ballot and by electronic voting to the exclusion of an actual meeting cannot and do not apply to court-convened meetings. At such meetings, provision must be made for postal ballots and electronic voting, in addition to an actual meeting. Electronic voting must also be made available at the venue of the meeting. Any shareholder who has cast his vote by postal ballot or by electronic voting from a remote location (other than the venue of the meeting) shall not be entitled to vote at the meeting. He or she may, however, attend the meeting and participate in those proceedings.

(b) The effect, interpretation and implication of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the relevant SEBI circulars and notifications, to the extent that they mandate a compulsory or even optional conduct of certain items of business by postal ballot (which includes electronic voting) to the exclusion of an actual meeting are matters that require a fuller consideration. The Central Government, through the Additional SolicitorGeneral, and SEBI will both need to be heard. The Company Registrar shall send an authenticated copy of this order to both the learned Additional Solicitor General and to SEBI requesting them to appear before the Court when this matter is next taken up for a consideration of this issue. On a prima-facie view that the elimination of all shareholder participation at an actual meeting is anathema to some of the most vital of shareholders’ rights, it is strongly recommended that till this issue is fully heard and decided, no authority or any  company should insist upon such a postal-ballot-only meeting to the exclusion of an actual meeting. Since this is evidently a matter of some importance, the Company Registrar is directed to make a submission and obtain necessary directions on the administrative side to have the matter placed before an appropriate Bench. At such a hearing, further safeguards can also be evolved. For instance, it is entirely possible to have a Company Scheme Petition, one that follows an order on and
compliance with a Company Summons for Direction, uploaded to the case status system of this Court. All such Company Scheme Petitions must have appended to them the report of the Chairman of the court-convened meeting and the scrutineers’ report. Making the petition available in its full form on a free and publicly accessible website such as the High Court, in addition to reports now being uploaded to the websites of the company and the stock exchanges would go a long way to ensuring the necessary information spread. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs must also immediately examine whether the uploads of these documents along with other statutory corporate filings/uploads can be made compulsory.

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