Page 42 - Corporate_Professional_Today

CondonATion of delAy SCheme 2018 – neW yeAr GifT To STruCk off ComPAnieS by roC
companies by the ROCs. They have been
provided with this golden opportunity to
save themselves and their companies against
a sort of surgical strike which the government
had launched for curbing circulation of
black money which goes through layers of
companies, making it difficult to track the
actual promoters/beneficial owners.
CODS-2018: Lack of Clarity Upon
Timeline for Filing e-Form CODS 2018
7. The Scheme has prescribed the date of
availability of e-Form CODS 2018 for filing
as February 20, 2018, with a condition that
before filing the CODS form, filing of overdue
documents is a must. Here again, MCA has
failed to provide clarity on whether e-Form
CODS 2018 can be filed after the expiry of
the Scheme, i.e., after March 31, 2018 or not?
Since the Scheme has a limited applicability
period, the e-Form CODS 2018 should also
be filed within the prescribed period.
CODS-2018: Missing Link with
Application of Revival of Company u/s
252
8. The Scheme has created a lot of fuss
over the issue on whether the Scheme can
be availed by struck off entities by seeking
revival from NCLT u/s 252 of the Companies
Act, 2013. The Scheme has left this aspect
unsettled as there is no clarity on the date
upto which companies under revival process
(or proposed to file for revival), can apply
for this Scheme. Relevant para is reproduced
below:
4. (v) In the event of defaulting companies
whose names have been removed from
the register of companies under section
248 of the Act and which have filed
applications for revival under section
252 of the Act up to the date of this
scheme, the Director’s DIN shall be re-
activated only NCLT order of revival
subject to the company having filing of
all overdue documents.
January 20 To January 26, 2018 u Taxmann’s Corporate Professionals Today u Vol. 41 u 43
The above para says that companies which
have made application for revival of company
u/s 252 up to the date of this scheme shall
be allowed to take benefit of this Scheme
only after NCLT’s order is passed for revival
of such companies. This means that the
same covers even those companies which
may file their revival application after the
commencement of this Scheme but not later
than the date of expiry of the Scheme, i.e.,
before March 31, 2018. To simply say, the
phrase up to the date of this scheme shall
mean the validity of this scheme.
Practically, the expiry date for making application
to NCLT should have been specified by
the Scheme itself, as without a sunset date
applications for revival shall continue to be
filed upto March 31, 2018 from the struck
off companies (2 lakh approx.). There are
only a handful Benches of NCLTs’ over the
country, which are excessively loaded with
applications under the Companies Act as well
as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. In
such a situation NCLT’s order for revival of
a company cannot be obtained in a few days
or weeks’ time. The lack of clarity w.r.t. the
sunset date, the applicants will pile up the
NCLTs’ with numerous applications and it
will be interesting to see how the judicial
body tackles this situation.
Therefore, companies which have been struck
off and want to revive themselves should,
without wasting even a day’s time, file the
application for revival and obtain a favourable
order soon enough to have sufficient time
to avail of benefits under this Scheme. Such
revived entities should also be required to file
their overdue documents (including e-Form
CODS 2018) under this Scheme till March
31, 2018 only.
Conclusion
9. With the wide spread epidemic of non-
operative and bogus companies infiltrating
the Indian corporate environment, the ROCs
had taken a bold step of striking off the
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