- (1.) The important question for determination on this application is, how far the Courts can call, hold, conduct or control Annual General Meetings of the companies, beyond the time appointed by the Companies Act. I have come to the conclusion that the Courts have no such power under the present law in India.
(2.) This is an application under S. 633(2) of the Companies Act, 1956 for an order that upon the undertaking of the petitioners to hold the annual general meetings of the Coal Marketing Co. India Private Ltd. which ought to have been held on the 12th February 1962, 12th February 1963, 12th February 1964, 12th February 1965 and the 31st January 1966, within six months from the date of the order the petitioners be relieved wholly from their liabilities for not holding such annual general meetings. The present application also seeks to relieve the petitioners for not filing balance-sheets and profit and loss accounts for the years ending on the 30th June 1960, 30th June, 1961, 30th June, 1962, 30th June, 1963, 30th June, 1964 and 30th June, 1965. The application is presented by Charu Chandra Chatterjee, Balchand Mundra and Lahoriram Parasar who describe themselves as Directors of the Coal Marketing Company of India Private Limited.
(3.) This is an extraordinary application. To come forward with an application to hold six annual general meetings of 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965, not held at all so far and to hold them all in 1967 is to make a farce of Company law and Company management. How can there be annual general meetings any more of those years? This is really an application to convert Statutory annual general meetings which must be held annually under the Companies Act into quinquennial meetings, unknown under the Companies Act. The matter has a history which must be set out first before proceeding to discuss the law.;