Kerala HC orders removal of Vellapally Natesan as SNDP Yogam general secretary

Kochi: SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan and three others were disqualified and declared to have vacated their offices by the high court on Thursday for violations of the Companies Act, 2013. Yogam president M N Soman, vice-president Thushar Vellappally and devaswom secretary Arayakkandil Santhosh are the others who were disqualified by court. As a result, they won't be entitled to hold office in the organisation or be appointed as directors on its board. Justice T R Ravi passed the order in petitions filed by the late literary critic M K Sanoo, M K Saseendran and others challenging an order of the inspector general (IG) of registration which had rejected their application seeking disqualification of the directors for alleged company law violations.In their 2024 petitions, the petitioners alleged that the Yogam office-bearers had violated Section 152(3) of the Companies Act, 2013, which provides that no person shall be appointed as a director of a company unless they possess a director identification number (DIN). They further contended that the Yogam had failed to file annual accounts and returns from 2006-07 to 2016-17 until Sept 2020, as required under Section 274(1)(g) of the Companies Act, 1956, later replaced by Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013. As a result, the directors had incurred disqualification from 2009 onwards.Earlier, HC had directed IG of registration to decide the issue after hearing the parties. However, by an order dated Feb 17, 2024, the authority held that the directors were not disqualified for the failure to file annual accounts, prompting the petitioners to move HC again.Setting aside the order of IG registration, HC held that no person can be appointed or reappointed as a director of the Yogam unless they possess a valid DIN. Since the four office-bearers did not possess a DIN, they were not entitled to continue in office in accordance with the provisions of the Act. HC also directed the state govt to take necessary steps under Section 167(3) of the Companies Act, 2013, to appoint the required number of directors to hold office until new directors are appointed by the company in a general meeting.HC additionally directed IG registration to take consequential action against them in view of the declaration that they have vacated the office of director owing to disqualification.