Kerala HC adjourns Vellappally Natesan’s plea against disqualification from SNDP Yogam post

Kochi: A high court bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar has adjourned to Thursday the appeals filed by SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan and others against a single bench order that disqualified them from holding posts in the Yogam. The single bench had declared their offices vacant for violations of the Companies Act, 2013. During hearing, senior counsel appearing on behalf of Natesan submitted that all members of the board of directors stood disqualified in light of the impugned judgment. In response, HC stated that the matter would be heard in detail on Thursday and adjourned the case accordingly.In its judgment, the single bench had disqualified all board members who did not possess a director identification number (DIN), as mandated under Section 152(3) of the Companies Act. The court also noted that SNDP Yogam had failed to file annual accounts and returns from 2006-07 to 2016-17 until Sept 2020, attracting disqualification under Section 164(2) of the Act, which applies when a company fails to file financial statements or annual returns for three consecutive years. Consequently, HC held that the directors had incurred disqualification from 2009 onwards.Challenging the judgment, Natesan, along with his son Thushar (vice-president of the Yogam), M N Soman (president) and Arayakkandil Santhosh (devaswom secretary), approached the division bench with appeals. They contended that disputes relating to the disqualification of directors and the internal management of a company fall within the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). They further argued that Section 430 of the Companies Act expressly bars the jurisdiction of civil courts and other forums in matters that the tribunal is empowered to determine.