ROC Uttar Pradesh Slaps Fine on Nidhi company for Late Board Meeting

Fact

Kashi Gramin Vikas Mutual Benefit Nidhi Limited  was set up on March 11th, 2016. They had their registered office in Uttar Pradesh. They were a Nidhi company, meaning they operate in the mutual benefit area.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs started looking into things, and on April 10th, 2020, they ordered an inquiry. Basically, they were checking things out under Section 206(4) of the Companies Act, 2013. During the investigation, they looked at the company’s Form MGT-7 for the 2016-17 financial year. They noticed something: the first board meeting was held on May 15th, 2016. The company had been founded on March 11th, 2016. That means the first meeting should happen within 30 days of them starting up, so on or before April 10th, 2016, according to Section 173(1) of the Companies Act, 2013. They were late, about 35 days past the deadline.

The investigator wrote this all up in a report on March 30th, 2022. After that, the Regional Director (North Region) told the Registrar of Companies in Kanpur to take action. This was on June 10th, 2022. They were supposed to punish the company and the officers who messed up for breaking Section 173(1) of the Companies Act, 2013.

Issue

The main question the Adjudicating Officer had to figure out was whether Kashi Gramin Vikas Mutual Benefit Nidhi Limited and its officers had broken Section 173(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, by missing the first board meeting deadline. Whether such a violation attracted the penalty under Section 450 of the Companies Act, 2013.

A notice was issued on January 9th, 2026. An e-hearing was held on March 25th, 2026. Jai Shankar Agrahari  showed up on behalf of the company via video conference. He said that Mr. Banarasi  and Mr. Pavan Kumar Chaubey, only became directors on January 28th, 2020. So, they were not around when the rule was broken. That checked out; they confirmed it using the MCA 21 registry. He also mentioned that Mr. Peter Damien , who was a director from March 11th, 2016, to October 26th, 2016, had unfortunately passed away. Shri Ramesh Kumar Pal, Assistant Registrar of Companies, was also there.

Order

The Registrar of Companies, ROC Kanpur, named Sanjay Bose, made the decision. They looked at everything: the facts, what everyone said, and the MCA 21 records. They decided that the company and the right officers did break Section 173, Clause 1, of the company act 2013. So, they handed out a fine under section 450 of the Act.

Kashi Gramin Vikas Mutual Benefit Nidhi Limited got hit with the maximum penalty, which was Rs200,000. Mr. Jai Shankar Agrahari, Mr. Raj Kumar Pankaj, and Kashi Gramin Vikas Mutual Fund need limited hits with the maximum penalties, which were Rs 200000. Mr. Jaishankar Agrahari, Mr. Rajkumar Pankaj, and Mr. Mahendra Nath Pankaj each had to pay Rs 50000; they were once in charge when things went wrong. Mr. Banarasi and Mr. Pavan Kumar Chaubey did not get fined because they were not involved at the time. And no fine for Mr. Peter Damien, since he has passed. The total amount of the fines was Rs 350,000.

Everyone who has signed has to fix the problem and pay up within 90 days. They have to do it through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs adjuration portal using their own login. They need to use Form ADJ and include a copy of the order. This is all according to Sections 454(5) and 454(6) of the Companies Act, 2013. If the fines are not paid on time, there will be more penalties, as stated in Section 454(8) of the Companies Act, 2013.