MCA imposes Penalty on Company and Its Officers for Not Maintaining Registered Address Mandated u/s 12 of Companies Act [Read Order]

As per the facts on record, a show cause notice was issued by the Registrar of Companies (ROC), Karnataka, following a physical verification of the company’s registered address. During inspection, it was found that the company was not operating at its declared registered office address.

This is a clear contravention of Section 12(1) which requires every company to have a registered office capable of receiving and acknowledging all communications and notices.

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The company was given a chance to reply, but they were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the non-compliance. The adjudicating officer came to the conclusion that the company had in fact broken the statutory provisions after reviewing the submissions and verifying the information that was available.

Consequently, the Registrar of Companies ( ROC ), Hyderabad, imposed a penalty of ₹1,00,000 on the company. Additionally, penalties of ₹50,000 each were levied on the Managing Director and another officer in default, in accordance with Section 12(8) read with Section 454 of the Act. The penalty was calculated based on the number of days of default until the date of order.

The ROC also directed that the penalties must be paid through the MCA21 portal within 90 days from the date of the order, failing which further prosecution or recovery proceedings may be initiated. It also directed that the payment of penalty imposed on the officers must be from personal sources/income.

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