• Notification Date: 14-02-2022
• Notification No: N/A

NVCC Ex-Chiefs Demand Ouster of President

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has been moved by several appeals of four former Chiefs of Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC). The apex body of 13 lakh traders has appealed to the High Court bench for removing the incumbent President Ashwin Prakash Mehadia. There have been several requests to the Nagpur bench for the removal of the current president from the post.

The president of the Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry and Trade (Camit), Dipen Agarwal, has urged the High Court along with Govindlal Agarwal, Ramesh Mantri and Murlidhar Surjan. They have filed a petition to the court appealing the rejection of the decisions that have been taken by the board of directors that was led by Mehadia in the past couple of years.

The petitions have appealed for appointing an administrator to run the NVCC until the case is resolved. NVCC is a Public Limited Company that is registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). Atul Pande, along with the senior lawyer MG Bhangde filed the petition on behalf of the petitioners. The court hearing was held on February 11.

Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Anil Pansare issued the notices to MCA, registrar of companies (RoC), NVCC, and Mehadia. The high court bench of justices stated that the petitioners are seeking direction from both the respondents for deciding their representation. The petition submitted by Bhangde only submits a prayer clause. The bench has fixed the next court hearing date on February 22. It has stated that the objections should be removed within the specified date. Otherwise, the petition shall be dismissed.

In the hearing, senior lawyers SP Dharmadhikari and Devendra Chavhan represented the NVCC and Mehadia’s counsel respectively.

The petition lodged with the Registrar of Companies on November 11 of the previous year states that Mehadia was appointed as the President of NVCC for the first time on September 10, 2019. In the following year, he was elected as the president for the second time on October 21, 2020. On the third time, he was elected as the president of NVCC on November 15, 2021.

According to the petitioner, the DIN number of Mehadia was blocked by the Registrar of Companies for five years. He was disqualified from the position of director of any company under Section 164(2) of the Companies Act.

Clause 27(a) of the Articles of Association of NVCC states that the Chamber is to be managed by the BoD. The Board of Directors (BoD) shall consist of the president, three vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, three joint secretaries, and PRO. The petitioner added that appointing Mehadia as the President of NVCC is a violation of the provisions stated under the Act. The decisions that have been taken during his tenure are required to be crashed down and should be reconsidered.

The approved business and the resolutions passed in the Annual General Meeting are all required to be cancelled. The election of the Board of Directors of the NVCC and the executive committee are required to be taken down and re-elected.