In Brief
D.B. Negandhi, an elderly advocate in his eighties, was charged under the Companies Act, 1956 for failure to lay balance sheets before an annual general meeting held in 2005. However, Negandhi had resigned as a director in 1997, formally intimating the Registrar of Companies via Form 32. The High Court had already quashed five similar charges against him for post-1997 meetings but dismissed his petition regarding this 2005 charge. The Supreme Court allowed his appeal, holding that a formally resigned director cannot be held liable for corporate defaults occurring after resignation, and quashed the criminal proceedings against him.
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