ROC Slaps Penalty on Company for Incorrect Filing of Statutory E-Form

The Registrar of Companies (ROC), Kolkata, imposed a penalty on a company and its director for incorrectly filing a statutory e-form with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

The company, Loghorn Industries Private Limited, filed e-AOC-4 (XBRL) for the financial year 2024-25. During an examination, it was found that this e-form had several errors. The e-form was filed with wrong particulars and invalid attachments. There was a data entry error in the “Purchase of Stock-in-Trade” field in the e-form. Further, the date of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was incorrectly mentioned as September 30, 2025, instead of August 25, 2025.

This was a clear violation of Rule 8(3) of the Companies (The Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014, which mandates that the authorised signatory and any professional certifying an e-form are responsible for the accuracy of the contents and enclosures attached to that form.

The company accepted its default and filed Form GNL-1, requesting the MCA to mark the earlier filing as defective. After examining the case, the ROC imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on Loghorn Industries and Rs 10,000 on Ravi Singhal for violating Rule 8(3) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014, read with Section 450 of the Companies Act, 2013.

The company and its director have been directed to correct this mistake by filing a correct E form on the MCA portal within 7 days. The company must pay the penalty within 90 days of receiving this order through the ‘e-Adjudication’ facility on the MCA portal. The order also clarifies that the penalty imposed on the director must be paid from his personal funds.