(1.) The Court:
(2.) Vide public notice no. ROC/WB/STK/2017/1 dated April 7, 2017, it was declared that the name of the said company would stand removed/struck off from the Register of Companies within 30 days from the date of the notice, under Section 248(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as "the 2013 Act"). Accordingly, the petitioner's Director Identification Number (DIN) and Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) were deactivated under Section 164(2) of the 2013 Act, with effect from November 1, 2016 till October 3, 2021. The present writ petition has been preferred, challenging such disqualification of the petitioner by the impugned notice dated April 7, 2017.
(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner argues that sub-section (2) of Section 164 of the 2013 Act came into force from April 1, 2014 and can apply only prospectively. Thus, the three financial years, non-filing of the annual return and financial statement of the company for which would make the petitioner liable for deactivation of his DIN, would commence from April 1, 2014. The relevant three financial years would be 2014- 2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, covering the period from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2017. Hence, it is argued, the deactivation of the DIN with effect from November 1, 2016 was patently illegal.