The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered the removal of several officials of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, including general secretary Vallepally Natesan, over the organization’s failure to submit audited accounts for three consecutive years.
SNDP Yogam is a prominent organization espousing the cause of the Ezhava Hindu community and Natesan has served as its General Secretary since 1996.
Justice TR Ravi pointed out that once a company fails to file its financial statements in the required period, the statutory law under the Companies Act, 2013 disqualifies its directors. This cannot be avoided even if delays in submitting accounts are tolerated.
“Respondents 4 to 7 are declared ineligible for reappointment as directors in view of non-compliance with the requirements of Section 164(2) of the Companies Act 2013,” the High Court order said.
Besides Natesan, SNDP Yogam president MN Soman, vice president and Vellappally’s son Thuhar and Devaswom secretary Arayakkandil Santhosh were also removed as directors of the organisation.
The Supreme Court ruling came on the basis of a batch of petitions including a petition filed by the late author MK Sanoo seeking removal of SNDP Yogam directors including Natesan for non-compliance with provisions of the Companies Act and failure to submit proper financial statements.
To prevent the activities of SNDP Yogam from being paralyzed, the Supreme Court directed the state government to take necessary steps under Section 167(3) of the Companies Act to appoint the necessary number of directors for Yogam to hold a general body meeting and appoint its full-time officers.
