ORDER :

Rajasekhar Mantha, J.

The writ petitioners are aggrieved by cessation of office as directors of one M/s. Hahnemann International Pvt. Ltd. The disqualification happened by operation of Section 164 (2) for not filing balance sheets and annual returns for a continuous period of three years from the year 2014-15. The ROC has also deactivated the Director Identification Number of the petitioners for which the petitioners are aggrieved by. The petitioners have advanced a three-fold argument challenging such disqualification.

(i) That they were not permitted to avail the benefit of the "Company's Fresh Start Scheme of 2020" despite applying by letter dated 11th November, 2020.

(ii) That the petitioners were not afforded a prior hearing before the disqualification as a directors and were hence denied principles of Natural Justice.

(iii) The Registrar of Companies is not authorized to deactivate their Director Identification Numbers (DIN) of the and that such activation of DIN pursuant to the disqualification is not automatic.

2. A large number of decisions have been cited by Mr. Rajarshi Dutta, Learned counsel for the petitioner, Viz. M. K. Meethelaveetil Kaitheri Muralidharan Vs. Unio