KOCHI: It was a day of confusion, panic and damage control after the Union Ministry of Company Affairs (MoCA) cancelled the registration of hundreds of Kerala-based ‘shell companies’ and disqualified around 12,000 directors, including businessman M A Yusuff Ali and Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
While Yusuff Ali was disqualified for being on the board of Norka-ROOTS, Chandy and Chennithala figured in the list for being directors of ‘Veekshanam’ daily. The Registrar of Companies (RoC) under MoCA cancelled the registration of companies in Kerala as part of the nationwide clampdown on ‘shell companies’.
The registration of over 100 companies in Kerala was cancelled for their failure to submit the annual report within 60 days of the annual general meeting (AGM), and balance sheet within 30 days of the AGM. However, K N Raghavan, CEO of Norka-ROOTS, told Express it was a mistake on the part of RoC to disqualify its directors, including Yusuffali, and cancel the outfit’s registration.
“We are a government company, and the government companies are exempt from the clause. The RoC has admitted to the mistake, and they have agreed to correct the error immediately,” Raghavan said over phone from Delhi.
The clarification, if true, will be a huge relief for Yusuffali, who is on the board of several companies, including the Cochin International Airport Ltd.
N Balasubramanian, a company secretary, said as per the Companies Act, 2013, a director who is disqualified is not eligible for re-election once his/her term ends in other companies which are well-run. He said clampdown on ‘shell companies’ has affected some genuine companies too.
“The chambers of commerce have submitted a representation to the RoC and the MoCA for a relief. Otherwise, a large number of professionals and qualified persons will remain disqualified and cannot be on the board of other companies for no fault of theirs,” he said.
P T Thomas refutes reports
On reports of cancellation of registration and disqualification of directors of Congress’ mouthpiece ‘Veekshanam’, P T Thomas MLA, Managing Director and Chief Editor of the daily, said the Centre’s move will not affect its publication and registration. However, P T Thomas said some ‘technical errors’ had occurred after the Union Government amended the Companies Act in 2013, which led to the disqualification of its directors.
“As per the amendment, the annual filing of the financial statement had been notified in on 2014. Naturally, the ministry should have granted time until October 31, 2017, to file the statement. However, this did not happen,” he said.
Removal from director board technical: Chennithala
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has said that his as well as a few others’ removal from the board of directors of ‘Veekshanam’ daily by the Regi-strar of Companies was only on technical grounds. He said the management of the daily has initiated steps to rectify it.
Chennithala, UDF convenor P P Thankachan and former KPCC president V M Sudheeran were among the five who were removed from the director board of ‘Veekshanam’ for not following the prescribed norms, while theRoC launched a nationwide drive to make the functioning of director boards of various establishments accountable.