HC stay allows Mayor Joshi to attend board meetings of the NSSCDCL

Nagpur:- On Friday, the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench placed a stay on the disqualification of Mayor Sandip Joshi ‘s Director Identification Number (DIN) and also permitted him to attend the Smart City Company’s Board of Directors (BoD) meeting on 10 July.

NSSCDCL is in news since Joshi and ruling party leader Sandip Jadhav, in the capacity of nominee directors, lodged a complaint with Sadar Police Station alleging that BoD had not appointed Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe as Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) so all of his decisions were in breach of rules.

On June 26, reported that Joshi and Jadhav were not valid directors either, as the former DIN had been disqualified by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the latter had no DIN. From 1 November 2016 to 31 October 2021 the Registrar of Companies (RoC) disqualified Joshi’s DIN.

Joshi has filed a petition in the HC via senior advocate Subodh Dharmadhikari and Deven Chauhan. On Friday, Justices RK Deshpande and Amit Borkar said, “The points Dharmadhikari urged on the petitioner need consideration. We find that prima facie case is being taken out and the petitioner can not be deprived of taking part in NSSCDCL meetings.

Joshi was granted ad interim relief by the judges by retaining the effect and action of the RoC order disqualifying him over the affairs of the former Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Limited (NMPL) and the deactivation of his DIN 03054580 during the pending appeal. The magistrates also allowed Joshi to function on the board of other firms during the pendency of the case.

The judges gave MCA and RoC notices and given two weeks’ time to reply.

Joshi told, “As chairman of NSSCDCL Praveen Pardeshi convened BoD meeting on July 10, I had to file a petition. The allegations that I leveled against Mundhe were borne out by the BoD agenda, which seeks to appoint Mundhe as NSSCDCL director and make him CEO. I will ask Mundhe not to be CEO, but to make a full-time appointment,’ he said.

Mundhe has always claimed that he was immediately ex officio director after assuming the charge of municipal commissioner. He had also assumed responsibility as CEO on the chairman ‘s directives and in line with state government norms.

The BoD is also expected to confirm minutes from the meeting on December 31 , 2019, in which Joshi and Jadhav were named as nominee directors. Another plan is to take Ramnath Sonawane ‘s resignation as CEO. He had presented resignation to the president on February 11, which was accepted on February 12 by the latter.

On the case of Jadhav, Joshi said, “Jadhav’s DIN was created now so there will be no problems in his case too.” Joshi can also continue with the HC order as president of Nagpur Environment Services Limited (NESL) until the stay continues, or the case is finally decided.

Joshi was also a nominee director of NSSCDCL for three years in his capacity as ruling party leader, following his disqualification from DIN. Even Jadhav was a director at NESL in the capacity of chairman of the standing committee without having a DIN for one year.

THE ROUND

Penalty

• From 1 November 2016 to 31 October 2021, RoC deactivated Sandip Joshi’s DIN as Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Limited, in which he was director, did not file statements or returns for three years, rendering him unable to serve on the NSSCDCL board
• Joshi ‘s counsel, Subodh Dharmadhikari, argued that the disqualification rule entered into force on 1 April 2014, while Joshi resigned as NMPL director in March 2012
• Joshi was also not served with a show cause notice, nor was he given the opportunity to be heard before being disqualified, or his DIN was cancelled or disabled
• HC Sightings
• No disagreement over the fact that, in March 2012, the petitioner stepped down as NMPL operator
• The complainant makes the prima facie case that he should not be deprived of participating in NSSCDCL meetings
• Interim relief granted to keep Joshi’s DIN deactivated, allowing him to participate in Board meetings