List of special courts – Companies Act 2013
Since our earlier discussion earlier here on law related to Special Courts, there are several new special courts have been notified. Here is an updated list of special courts as on date.
| Sl. No. | Existing Court | Jurisdiction as Special Court |
| (1) | (2) | (3) |
| Notification S.O. 1796 (E) dated 18th May 2016 | ||
| 1 | Courts of Additional Special Judge, Anti-Corruption at Jammu and Srinagar | State of Jammu and Kashmir |
| 2 | Presiding Officers of Court No’s. 37 and 58 of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Mumbai | State of Maharashtra |
| 3 | Court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli at Silvassa. | Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |
| 4 | Court of District Judge-1 and Additional Sessions Judge, Panaji. | State of Goa |
| 5 | Court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural), situated at Mirzapur, Ahmedabad. | State of Gujarat |
| 6 | 9th Additional Sessions Judge, Gwalior Madhya Pradesh. | State of Madhya Pradesh |
| 7 | Court of Additional District and Session Judge, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. | Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. |
| 8 | 2nd Special Court, Calcutta. | State of West Bengal |
| Notification S.O. 2554(E) dated 27th July 2016 | ||
| 9 | Court of Additional Sessions Judge-03, South-West District, Dwarka | National Capital Territory of Delhi |
| Notification S.O. 2843(E) dated 1st September 2016 | ||
| 10 | Sessions Judge, Bilaspur | State of Chhattisgarh |
| 11 | Court of Special Judge, (Sati Niwaran), Jaipur | State of Rajasthan |
| 12 | Court of Sessions Judge and 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, S.A.S. Nagar | State of Punjab |
| 13 | Court of Sessions Judge and 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Gurgaon | State of Haryana |
| 14 | Court of Sessions Judge and 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Chandigarh | Union Territory of Chandigarh |
| 15 | I Additional District and Sessions Court, Coimbatore | Districts of Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Salem and Tiruppur. |
| 16 | II Additional District and Sessions Court, Puducherry | Union Territory of Puducherry |
| 17 | Sessions Judge, Imphal East | State of Manipur |
| Notification S.O. 3464(E) dated 17th November 2016 | ||
| 18 | Court of District and Sessions Judge, Shillong. | State of Meghalaya |
| Notification S.O. 945(E) dated 23rd March 2017 | ||
| 19 | Special Court for the trial of Economic Offences cum- VIII Additional Metropolitan Sessions
Judge Court-cum-XXII Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad
| State of Telangana |
| 20 | Court of IV Additional District Judge-cum-II Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Visakhapatnam. | State of Andhra Pradesh |
| Notification S.O. 2872(E) dated 31st August 2017 | ||
| 21 | Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Patna | State of Bihar |
| Notification S.O.3529 (E) 3rd November 2017 | ||
| 22 | XV Additional Court, XVI Additional Court of City Civil Court, Chennai | State of Tamil Nadu except for Districts of Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Salem and Tiruppur. |
| Notification S.O. 3804(E) dated 4th December 2017 | ||
| 23 | LIX Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City | State of Karnataka |
| Notification S.O. 528(E) dated 5th February 2018 | ||
| 24 | Additional District and Sessions Court- VII, Ernakulam | State of Kerala |
| 25 | District and Sessions Court, Kavaratti | Union territory of Lakshadweep |
| 26 | District and Sessions Judge, Cuttack | State of Odisha |
| 27 | Additional District and Sessions Judge, No.1, Kamrup (M), Guwahati | State of Assam |
| Notification S.O. 1710(E) dated 23rd April 2018 | ||
| 28 | 9 th Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kanpur Nagar | State of Uttar Pradesh. |
MCA vide its notification dated 18th May 2016 has notified the commencement of provisions of clause (iv) of sub-section (29) of section 2, sections 435 to 438 (both sections inclusive) and section 440 w.e.f date of notification. The said provisions are related to Special Court.
Further by an another notification dated 18th May 2016, MCA after obtaining the concurrence of the respective Chief Justices of the High Courts, has designated the following Courts mentioned in the Table below as Special Courts for the purposes of trial of offences punishable under the Companies Act, 2013 with imprisonment of two years or more in terms of section 435 of the Companies Act, 2013, namely:-
| SI. No. (1) | Existing Court (2) | Jurisdiction as Special Court (3) |
| 1 | Courts of Additional Special Judge, Anticorruption at Jammu and Srinagar | State of Jammu and Kashmir |
| 2 | Presiding Officers of Court No's. 37 and 58 of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Mumbai | State of Maharashtra |
| 3 | Court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli at Silvassa. | Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |
| 4 | Court of District Judge-1 and Additional Sessions Judge, Panaji. | State of Goa |
| 5 | Court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural), situated at Mirzapur, Ahmedabad. | State of Gujarat |
| 6 | 9th Additional Sessions Judge, Gwalior Madhya Pradesh. | State of Madhya Pradesh |
| 7 | Court of Additional District and Session Judge, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. | Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. |
| 8 | 2nd Special Court, Calcutta. | State of West Bengal |
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Non-bailable offences under the new Companies Act
The new Companies Act has several provisions for non-bailable offences. What should you know when you get arrested? What are your rights ? And what are the implications of non-bailable offences?
The Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) has brought in extensive changes with the objective to ensure and seek transparency and establish better corporate governance practices. The Act has gone a step further to treat certain offences at par with criminal ones, thereby identifying them as cognizable and non-bailable. It becomes imperative on the part of promoters, directors, officers or any other person of the company to know what offences classified, as non-bailable, mean, what does non-bailable mean and what are the rights under such circumstances.
The Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) has brought in extensive changes with the objective to ensure and seek transparency and establish better corporate governance practices. The Act has gone a step further to treat certain offences at par with criminal ones, thereby identifying them as cognizable and non-bailable. It becomes imperative on the part of promoters, directors, officers or any other person of the company to know what offences classified, as non-bailable, mean, what does non-bailable mean and what are the rights under such circumstances.
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An offence denotes “crime” or “wrongdoing.” Section 2(n) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Code) defines offence as “any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force”. Section 40 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) defines offence “to denote a thing made punishable under the Code”. An act becomes an offence only when specifically made punishable by any law. An act, which has not been made punishable expressly under any law, is not an offence.
Bail has not been defined in the CrPC. Section 205 (Indian Penal Code, 1880) of IPC defines bail as temporary release from imprisonment on furnishing security/surety to appear for trial. It means release of an accused/offender from legal custody upon their giving sufficient security for his appearance later. Law recognises that individual freedom should be safeguarded and that every person including the accused is entitled to freedom unless found guilty.
Bailable and non-bailable offences
The Code does not provide any specific criteria to determine whether a particular offence is bailable or non-bailable. It is only the First Schedule of the Code that illustrates whether an offence falls under the bailable or non-bailable category. However, generally speaking, it can be stated that by and large serious offences are considered as non-bailable and others as bailable.
As per section 2(a) of the Code a "bailable offence" is an offence (i) which is shown as bailable in the First Schedule of the Code, or (ii) which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force. These primarily constitute less serious offences, where bail can be claimed as matter of right and is granted by police officer in due course. Any other offence apart from those mentioned as bailable is “non-bailable.”
On perusal of the First Schedule of the Code, offences that are punishable with imprisonment of less than three years are usually considered as bailable and offences that are punishable with imprisonment for three years or more are usually considered as non-bailable.
Under non-bailable offences, bail cannot be claimed as a matter of right. This, however, does not mean that there can be no bail for such offences. It simply means that grant of bail for such offences are purely at the discretion of the court. The court after recording reasons, may release an accused on bail. However, persons accused of offences punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for seven years or more can be released on bail, only after giving an opportunity of hearing to the public prosecutor.
Non-bailable offences under Companies Act, 2013
Section 212(6) of the Act now recognizes offences as mentioned in the Annexure (at the end of this piece) to be cognizable (S.2 (c) of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), offence where a police officer may arrest without a warrant, and non-bailable.
This means that a bail for such offences can be granted only:
- after the public prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the same; and
- the court has sufficient reason to believe that the person is not guilty of offence and shall not likely commit any offence when on bail.
This section, however, is not applicable to:
- a person under the age of 16 years ; or
- a woman ;or
- the sick; or
- an infirm person, who otherwise may be released on bail subject to discretion of the court.
Imposing such a condition on bail, technically equates these offences with offences that are punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for seven years or more, where bail may be granted subject to hearing of the public prosecutor and court.
The very intention to recognise offences under section 212(6) as a “criminal” is to acknowledge it as a public wrong and prevent and control further occurrences of the same. Recognising such offences as non-bailable would not only deter the offender from committing further offence but also deter others from committing similar offences thereby upholding the very objective and intrinsic principle of criminal justice.
Know your rights when under arrest
The Code provides and confers certain specific rights to persons who are arrested as below:
- right to know grounds of arrest (as guaranteed by Article 22 of Constitution of India);
- right of bail;
- right to be produced before magistrate or court;
- right to inform relative/ friend;
- right to consult lawyer;
- right to be examined by doctor.
The Act, in the wake of various reported frauds and fraudulent activities on part of the officers in charge of the company, has substantially enhanced the severity of punishment for such offences. It has made efforts to recognise them as criminal and non-bailable with an objective to prevent and control such offences, safeguard the interests of the shareholders and also to serve as deterrent for those pronounced guilty.
However, time alone shall judge whether such severity was able to satisfy and make substantial difference in upholding the principles of justice, equity and fairness.
Annexure: Non-bailable offences under the Act
Section
|
Offence
|
Person liable
|
7(5)
|
Furnishing any false or incorrect particulars of any information or suppressing any material information, with the Registrar in relation to the registration of a company
|
A person furnishing such information
|
7(6)
|
Furnishing any false or incorrect information or representation or by suppressing any material fact or information in any of the documents or declaration filed or made during incorporation of company, or by any fraudulent action
|
Promoters, first directors of the company and/or an advocate, a chartered accountant, cost accountant or company secretary in practice, engaged in the formation of the company and a person named in the articles as a director, manager or secretary of the company.
|
34
|
Untrue or misleading statements stated in prospectus or where any inclusion or omission of any matter is likely to mislead
|
Every person who authorizes the issue of such prospectus
|
36
|
Knowingly or recklessly making any statement, promise or forecast which is false, deceptive or misleading, or deliberately conceals any material facts, to induce another person to enter into, or to offer to enter into any agreement (i) with a view to, acquiring, disposing of, subscribing for, or underwriting securities; or (ii) the purpose or the pretended purpose of which is to secure a profit to any of the parties from the yield of securities or by reference to fluctuations in the value of securities; or (iii) with a view to obtain credit facilities from any bank or financial institution
|
Any person making such promise
|
38(1)
|
Abetments (i) of an application in a fictitious name to a company for acquiring, or subscribing for, its securities; or (ii) of multiple applications to a company in different names or in different combinations of his name or surname for acquiring or subscribing for its securities; or (iii) inducing directly or indirectly a company to allot, or register any transfer of, securities to him, or to any other person in a fictitious name
|
Any person making such abetments
|
46(5)
|
Issue of duplicate share certificates with the intention to defraud
|
Company and every defaulting officer of the company
|
56(7)
|
Transfer of shares with an intention to defraud
|
Depository or depository participant
|
66(10)
|
Knowingly (i) conceals the name of any creditor entitled to object to the reduction;(ii) misrepresents the nature or amount of the debt or claim of any creditor; (iii) abets or is privy to any such concealment or misrepresentation
|
A person who knowingly commits the same
|
140(5)
|
Auditor against whom order passed by Tribunal confirms acting in a fraudulent manner or abetting or colluding in any fraud by, or in relation to the company
|
Auditor of the company
|
206(4)
|
Business of a company being carried on for a fraudulent or unlawful purpose or not in compliance with the provisions of the Act or if the grievances of investors are not being addressed
|
Every officer of the company in default
|
213
|
(i) The business of the company is being conducted with intent to defraud its creditors, members or any other persons or otherwise for a fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or that the company was formed for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose; or (ii) any person concerned in the formation of the company or the management of its affairs have in connection therewith been guilty of fraud
|
Every officer of the company who is in default and the person or persons concerned in the formation of the company or the management of its affairs
|
229
|
Any (i) destruction, mutilation or falsification, or concealment or tampering or unauthorized removal of documents relating to the property, assets or affairs of the company or the body corporate, (ii) false entry in any document concerning the company or body corporate; or (iii) explanation which is false or which is known to be false; during the course of any inspection, inquiry or investigation
|
Any person or an officer or other employee of a company or other body corporate required to make statement under investigation
|
251(l)
|
Application by a company under section 248 (2) with an intention of evading the liabilities of the company or with the intention to deceive the creditors or to defraud any other person
|
Persons in charge of the management of the company
|
339(5)
|
During winding up of a company, it appears that any business of the company has been carried on with intent to defraud creditors of the company or any other persons or for any fraudulent purpose
|
Any person, who is or has been a director, manager, or officer of the company or any person who knowingly was party to the carrying on of the business in a fraudulent manner
|
448
|
Any return, report, certificate, financial statement, prospectus, statement or other document required by, or for, the purposes of any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under (i) which is false in any material particulars, knowing it to be false; or (ii) which omits any material fact, knowing it to be material
|
Any person making/providing such statement.
|
Criminal action against the Directors of Company
1. A Private company was incorporated under RoC, Shillong, Meghalaya, in the year 10-02-1984 with an authorized capital of Rs.10, 00,000/-under companies act 1956.The Company did not filed any statutory documents such as balance sheet, annual report etc from the date of incorporation till the year 1995.However the company filed only balance sheet at 31.03.1996 on 08.07.1996 while submitting application for strike off. The company filed an application & affidavit for struck off citing reasons that it is not doing business since incorporation nor will do any business in future. The RoC issued struck off order on 17.02.1997, without imposing any penalty. 2. There is a multistory commercial building whose value will run into several crore near the main road which has clearly violating building by-laws and causing difficulty to commuters under Guwahati Municipal Corporation. When I approached Guwahati Municipal Corporation for demolition of the building for by law violation in the year 2014 it has emerged that the construction permission was obtained in the name of above Company in the year 1984. Guwahati Municipal Corporation is initiating action against the owner of the building since January 2015 for by-law violation. In the meantime I approached RoC, Shillong, Meghalaya by filing RTI to obtain information about the Company. They have supplied all the documents. 3. The documents reveal that the Directors of the Company filed a fraud affidavit to strike off the company. There it was stated that the company is not doing business since incorporation nor will do any business in future, whereas it owns a multistory commercial building since 1984 whose value will run into several crore and several lakhs of rupees is collected as monthly rents from various business entities operating from that building. It might have other assets which I don't know. I have filed a complaint to RoC, Shillong, Meghalaya for taking appropriate action against the Directors of the Company, but in its reply they said that RoC cannot take any action as the company is struck off. RoC has advised me to approach court of Law. 4. Issues: Please advise me what legal action can be taken against the Directors of the Company at present under the above facts and circumstances for filing a false affidavit to strike off a company and other related issues as mentioned above. It is also to mention that I don’t have any direct dealing with the company but I am interested to take action against it.
Asked 4 years ago in Business Law from Guwahati, Assam
1) section 229 of companies act provided that in case person knowingly furnishes false information he can be punished for fraud under section 447 of companies act
2) Section 447 of the Companies Act, 2013 often now referred as one of the draconian section of the new Act deals with provision relating to punishment for fraud. It reads as : “Without prejudice to any liability including repayment of any debt under this Act or any other law for the time being in force, any person who is found to be guilty of fraud, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 6 months but which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than the amount involved in the fraud, but which may extend to 3 times the amount involved in the fraud:
Where the fraud in question involves public interest, the term of imprisonment shall not be less than 3 years”.
3) you can lodge complaint against the company in magistrate court under section 229 read with 44 7 of companies act
229. Penalty for furnishing false statement, mutilation, destruction of documents
Where a person who is required to provide an explanation or make a statement
during the course of inspection, inquiry or investigation, or an officer or other employee of
a company or other body corporate which is also under investigation,—
(a) destroys, mutilates or falsifies, or conceals or tampers or unauthorisedly
removes, or is a party to the destruction, mutilation or falsification or concealment or
tampering or unauthorised removal of, documents relating to the property, assets or
affairs of the company or the body corporate;
(b) makes, or is a party to the making of, a false entry in any document concerning
the company or body corporate; or
(c) provides an explanation which is false or which he knows to be false,
he shall be punishable for fraud in the manner as provided in section 447.
447. Punishment for fraud
Without prejudice to any liability including repayment of any debt under this Act
or any other law for the time being in force, any person who is found to be guilty of fraud,
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but
which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than the
amount involved in the fraud, but which may extend to three times the amount involved in
the fraud:
Provided that where the fraud in question involves public interest, the term of
imprisonment shall not be less than three years.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section—
(i) “fraud” in relation to affairs of a company or any body corporate, includes
any act, omission, concealment of any fact or abuse of position committed by any
person or any other person with the connivance in any manner, with intent to deceive,
to gain undue advantage from, or to injure the interests of, the company or its
shareholders or its creditors or any other person, whether or not there is any wrongful
gain or wrongful loss;
(ii) “wrongful gain” means the gain by unlawful means of property to which the
person gaining is not legally entitled;
(iii) “wrongful loss” means the loss by unlawful means of property to which the
person losing is legally entitled.
you can read the companies act 2013 on below mention link
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