Extension of time for Holding Virtual general meetings - MMJC

Our previous article dated 16^th December 2022 was about the convening General meeting through video conferencing (VC) or other Audio-Visual Means (OAVM). In that article, we discussed at length the evolution of provisions of Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) with respect to conducting Board Meetings as well as General meetings through VC or OAVM.

We have also discussed about there is no express provision in the Act w.r.t conducting general meetings through VC and the relaxation provided by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) through various circulars dealing with conducting general meetings through VC or OAVM and the said relaxation was supposed to expire on 31^st December, 2022 unless MCA comes up with further extension..

MCA vide its circular dated 28^th December 2022, has further extended and now companies are allowed to conduct general meeting via VC or OAVM till 30^th September, 2023 subject to compliance of provisions and procedures as mentioned in MCA circular dated 8^th April 2020 read with MCA circular dated 13^th April 2020. This also implies that the companies can continue to send their annual report through email to their shareholders.

Moreover, SEBI vide its circular dated 5^th January 2023, has provided extension to relaxation from sending summaries of annual report to members who do not have their email IDs registered with companies. This extension for relaxation is provided to both equity listed and debt listed entities.

Due to this relaxation, the listed companies are relieved from their obligation under regulation 36(1)(b)/58 of SEBI LODR regulations, 2015 to send physical copies of summaries of annual report to shareholders who do not have their email IDs registered with companies. This extension will allow the companies to take the maximum benefit of the provisions of conduct of general meeting through video-conferencing as specified by MCA.

Link to previous Article: