Companies Act, 1956

Sec 219    -     Right of members to copies of Balance Sheet and Auditors' Report.

(1) A copy of every Balance Sheet (including the Profit and Loss Account, the Auditors' Report and every other document required by law to be annexed or attached, as the case may be, to the balance sheet) which is to be laid before a company in general meeting shall, not less than twenty-one days before the date of the meeting, be sent to every member of the company, to every trustee for the holders of any debentures issued by the company, whether such member or trustee is or is not entitled to have notices of general meetings of the company sent to him, and to all persons other than such members or trustees, being persons so entitled:

Provided that

(a) in the case of a company not having a share capital, this sub-section shall not require the sending of a copy of the documents aforesaid to a member, or holder of debentures, of the company who is not entitled to have notices of general meetings of the company sent to him;

(b) this sub-section shall not require a copy of the documents aforesaid to be sent:

(i) to a member, or holder of debentures, of the company, who is not entitled to have notices of general meetings of the company sent to him and of whose address the company is unaware ;

(ii) to more than one of the joint holders of any shares or debentures none of whom is entitled to have such notices sent to him;

(iii) in the case of joint holders of any shares or debentures some of whom are and some of whom are not entitled to have such notices sent to them, to those who are not so entitled;

(iv) in the case of a company whose shares are listed on a recognized stock exchange, if the copies of the documents aforesaid are made available for inspection at its registered office during working hours for a period of twenty-one days before the date of the meeting and a statement containing the salient features of such documents in the prescribed form or copies of the documents aforesaid, as the company may deem fit, is sent to every member of the company and to every trustee for the holders of any debenture issued by the company not less than twenty one days before the date of the meeting ;

(c) if the copies of the documents aforesaid are sent less than twenty-one days before the date of the meeting, they shall, notwithstanding that fact, be deemed to have been duly sent if it is so agreed by all the members entitled to vote at the meeting ;

(2) Any member or holder of debentures of a company and any person from whom the company has accepted a sum of money by way of deposit shall, on demand, be entitled to be furnished free of cost, with a copy of the last balance sheet of the company and of every document required by law to be annexed or attached thereto, including the profit and loss account and the auditors' report.

(3) If default is made in complying with sub-section (1), the company, and every officer of the company who is in default, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

(4) If, when any person makes a demand for a copy of any document with which he is entitled to be furnished by virtue of sub-section (2), default is made in complying with the demand within seven days after the making thereof, the company, and every officer of the company who is in default, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, unless it is proved that that person had already made a demand for and been furnished with a copy of the document. The Company Law Board may also, by order, direct that the copy demanded shall forthwith be furnished to the person concerned.

(5) Sub-sections (1) to (4) shall not apply in relation to a balance sheet of a private company laid before it before the commencement of this Act ; and in such a case the right of any person to have sent to him or to be furnished with a copy of the balance sheet, and the liability of the company in respect of a failure to satisfy that right, shall be the same as they would have been if this Act had not been passed.

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