Failure in Maintaining a Registered Office: MCA penalizes both Directors and Company [Read Notification]

In the adjudication order passed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) Registrar of Companies under Section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013, a penalty of Rs. 24,000 each was imposed on the company and its Managing Director for the failure of the company to maintain a registered office.

Coming to the facts of the case, the office of the MCA issued a letter to the company named M/s Jskagri Nidhi Limited’s registered office, which was returned with the postal endorsement that the firm at the given address was closed down, but no intimation was made by the company to the MCA with regard to the change of its registered offices’s address.

The adjudicating authority observed that the firm failed to maintain a registered office as required and thereby violated Section 12 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Section 12(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, states that “a company shall, within thirty days of its incorporation and at all times thereafter, have a registered office capable of receiving and acknowledging all communications and notices as may be addressed to it.”

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Section 12(4) of the Act reads, “Notice of every change of the situation of the registered once, verified in the manner prescribed, after the date of incorporation of the company, shall be given to the Registrar within thirty days of the change, who shall record the same. “

 Section 12(8) of the Act further provides that “if any default is made in complying with the requirement of this section, the company and every officer who is in default shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand rupees for every day during which the default continues but does not exceed one lakh rupees.”

An adjudication notice was sent to the company giving it 15 days to reply, but the letter was undelivered with the remark that the shop was closed down.

The adjudicating officer concluded that the company breached the provisions of Section 12 of the Companies Act and imposed a penalty of Rs 24,000 on each, the company and the director, and the penalty imposed is accurately mentioned in the order in the table.

Anu Vivek, Registrar of Companies & Adjudicating Officer, Kerala & Lakshadweep, issued this order.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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