KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday disqualified Vellappally Natesan, M N Soman and Thushar Vellappally as the SNDP Yogam general secretary, president and vice-president, respectively, for failing to submit annual income and expenditure accounts, and directed the government to take steps to manage the Yogam’s affairs in the interim.
Justice T R Ravi declared that Vellappally, Soman, Thushar and Santhosh Aryakkandy (secretary) were not eligible for reappointment as the Yogam directors due to non-compliance with Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, which disqualifies a person from being a director if the financial statements or annual returns of a company are not filed for three years straight. The court also made furnishing of the director identification number (DIN) mandatory for appointment/reappointment as a director of the Yogam.
The government was directed to take steps to appoint the required number of directors until new ones were appointed by the company in a general meeting.
“The government should ensure an election is conducted at the earliest and a proper board of directors is put in place,” ordered the court, which also asked the inspector general of registration to take action in view of the declaration that Vellappally and four others had vacated the office of director owing to disqualification.
The order was issued on a petition filed by late writer M K Sanoo, M K Saseendran and other members of the Aruvipuram Sreenarayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, Kollam in 2024. The writer passed away in 2025 during the pendency of the case.
The petitioners had sought the appointment of an administrator to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Yogam and to conduct elections to its board of directors. They had submitted that the Yogam had not filed its annual returns since 2006, and therefore its affairs were not being administered in accordance with the law.
Vellappally, Soman, Thushar, and Santhosh, who have served as directors of the Yogam for several terms, were re-elected for a five-year term on August 9, 2015, but continued in office without conducting an annual general meeting (AGM) even after their tenure expired.
The petitioners said the last election of directors was held at the 110th AGM on August 9, 2015. The 113th AGM was held on February 7, 2019, but no election of directors was conducted.
Vellappally and the others submitted that the Yogam had not failed to file annual returns continuously for three years and that there was no conscious or wilful default.
They also said the Yogam has 170 directors, more than 60 of whom have a valid DIN, while the others had applied for one.