NEW DELHI: The government is set to deregister 1.2 lakh more companies for various noncompliance issues as part of its drive against black money.Nearly 2.26 lakh companies have already been deregistered and around 3.09 lakh directors associated with these entities have been disqualified.The decision follows a review of the actions taken with respect to deregistered firms by minister of state for corporate affairs PP Chaudhary.The registrar of companies (RoC) had by December last year struck off 2.26 lakh companies from the register of companies under Section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013.The companies had not been filing financial statements or annual returns for a continuous period of two or more financial years.The government has announced a Condonation of Delay Scheme to give an opportunity to the deregistered companies to regularise their filings. The scheme is open till March 31.Chaudhary said the ministry ensures that principles of good corporate governance are followed in letter and spirit and an atmosphere of trust prevails for the investors. "Similarly, it is important to ensure that unscrupulous elements do not misuse the corporate governance channels to defraud innocent investors," he said according to the statement, while calling for quick action in respect of the 1.2 lakh companies identified.The ministry said there was an increase in compliance rate, as more companies are coming forward to file annual returns and statements on the web portal of MCA21. "This is seen as an outcome of the striking-off and disqualification exercise undertaken by the ministry of corporate affairs in September 2017," the statement said.With respect to 992 court cases pertaining to disqualification of directors that are pending with various high courts, the ministry said around 190 cases have been disposed of.According to the release, 1,157 cases had been filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for restoration of deregistered companies.

Source: Economic Times January 16, 2018 13:35 UTC