MCA Appoints Registrars as Adjudicating Officers Under Companies Act, Revises Territorial Jurisdiction [Read Notification]

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has issued Notification No. S.O. 698(E) dated February 10, 2026, appointing Registrars of Companies as Adjudicating Officers under Section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013. The notification will come into force from February 16, 2026 .

The notification has been published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii). It supersedes earlier notifications dated March 24, 2015 and July 25, 2019, except for actions already taken under those notifications .

Under Section 454 of the Companies Act, adjudicating officers are empowered to impose penalties for non-compliance with various provisions of the Act. With this fresh notification, the Central Government has reassigned jurisdiction across India by clearly specifying which Registrar of Companies will act as the adjudicating officer for particular States, Union Territories and districts.

Key highlights of the notification include:

• Separate jurisdiction for Delhi divided into NCT Delhi I and NCT Delhi II, covering different districts of the capital.
• Two separate Registrars for Uttar Pradesh, dividing districts between Uttar Pradesh I and Uttar Pradesh II.
• Distinct jurisdiction for Mumbai I, Mumbai II, Nagpur and Pune within Maharashtra.
• Specific coverage for Union Territories such as Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu.
• Full State-level jurisdiction assigned to Registrars in States such as Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

The notification also clarifies the appellate mechanism. Any appeal against an order passed by these adjudicating officers will lie before the concerned Regional Director having jurisdiction over the adjudicating office, as per the Government notification dated October 23, 2025.

Further, all pending proceedings before adjudicating officers and appeals pending before Regional Directors as on the date of commencement will be dealt with in accordance with this new notification.

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