9911796707
TMI Blog1964 (9) TMI 19X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The respondent, a limited company, was incorporated on November 1, 1951. Under section 131(1) of the Act, the directors of every company have, at some date not later than 18 months after the incorporation of the company, to lay before the company in general meeting a balance sheet and profit and loss account. The directors of the respondent company, therefore, had to lay before the general meeting of the company a balance sheet and the profit and loss account on or before April 30, 1953. For various reasons, with which we are not concerned, the directors were unable to do so. They, therefore, applied to the Registrar to extend by three months the time within which they could do so. The Registrar declined to extend time on the ground that h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his appeal is whether the construction of the learned Judge is right. Section 131(1) as it now stands was substituted for the original sub-section by the Indian Companies (Amendment) Act, 1936 (Act XXII of 1936), Section 69. The original sub-section an thus; "Every company shall, once at least in every year and at intervals of not more than fifteen months, cause the accounts of the company to be balanced and a balance sheet to be prepared." Obviously, the new sub-section was a substantial reproduction of section 123(1) of the English Companies Act of 1929, which was in the following terms: "The directors of every company shall at some date not later than eighteen months after the incorporation of the company and subsequently once at lea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... "the period" covers both the period of eighteen months as well as the periods of nine months and twelve months. The learned Advocate-General was not able to suggest any reason why the Indian statute should contemplate a deliberate departure from the English statute on which it was based. He referred us to section 76(1) of the Act as it now stands which provides that a general meeting shall be held within eighteen months from the 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. But this provision does not throw any light on the matter. It was contended that the first account should be laid before the company at the first ge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing either in the language or in logic to justify such a construction. In one sense, the extension will result in shortening the period of the account. It is only in relation to the date of the meeting and the interval between the date of the meeting and the date up to which the account is made up that there is an extension of the period. In the face of the language of the English proviso, it is difficult to contend that the expression "the period" cannot aptly relate to eighteen months. That period is with reference to the date of the first meeting. Equally, we think the nine months' and twelve months' periods also, by implication, really relate to the date of the subsequent meeting at which the account should be laid. If the intention of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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