1947 (10) TMI 7

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..... ad failed as required by section134(4) of the Companies Act, to file with the Registrar of Companies three copies of the balance-sheet and accounts of the company for the year 1944. It is common ground that no general meeting of the company has been called at which the balance-sheet and the profit and loss account for the year 1944 have been laid. Turning to section134(1) it provides that after the balance-sheet and the profit and loss account have been laid before the company at a general meeting three copies thereof signed by the manager or secretary of the company shall be filed with the Registrar at the same time as the copy of the annual list of members and summary prepared in accordance with the requirements of section32 and the penal .....

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..... e date of its incorporation and thereafter once at least in every calendar year and not more than fifteen months after the holding of the last preceding general meeting and if this is not done a penalty is provided under sub-section (2) of section76. Again section131 provides that the directors of every company must lay before the company in general meeting a balance-sheet and profit and Joss account at the time stated in that section and the failure to do so is made penal by section 135(3). Therefore, on the facts which are not disputed it is clear that the directors have failed to comply with the requirements both of section 76(1) and also of section 131(1). The Government, instead of prosecuting them for what they have failed to do as re .....

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..... y at such meeting a duly prepared and audited balance-sheet and they relied on a decision of the English High Court, Park v. Lawton [1911] 1 K B 588. When we turn to that decision we find that it is based on section26 of the English Act which in its scheme and terms is entirely different from the section with which we are concerned. That section is a composite section which lays down various requirements which are to be complied with by the company under its first four sub-clauses and sub-clause (5) is the penal sub-section which penalises the. failure to comply with any of the requirements contained in any of the four preceding sub-sections. As I have pointed out, the scheme of our Act is very different. We have various stages which ha .....

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