2026:BHC-OS:410-DB Salgaonkar IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.2142 OF 2021 WITH IN PERSON APPLICATION (L) NO.23839 OF 2021 Harsh Gopal Khandelwal .. Petitioner Versus Registrar of Companies, Mumbai .. Respondents Western Region and Ors.

WITH WRIT PETITION NO.3672 OF 2021 WITH IN PERSON APPLICATION (L) NO.23978 OF 2021 Indira Agrawal & Ors. .. Petitioners Versus Union of India and Ors. .. Respondents …

Mr.Harsh G. Khandelwal, Petitioner-in-person in WP/2142/21.

Mr.Vishal Thaker with Ms.Anjali Trivedi i/b V. Thakers Advocates for the Petitioners in WP/3672/21 and for the Respondent Nos.9 to 16 in WP/2142/21.

Mr.Pavan S. Patil with Mr.Tanmay Deshmukh for the Respondent Nos.1 to 8 in WP/2142/21 and for Respondent Nos.1 to 16 in WP/3672/21.

CORAM: BHARATI DANGRE &

R.N.LADDHA, JJ.

DATE : 08th JANUARY, 2026 ...

P.C:-

1. Writ Petition No.2142 of 2021 filed by Mr.Harsh Khandelwal, who has marked his appearance in person, seeks direction to Respondent No.1 to take prompt and appropriate action against the Companies i.e. Respondent Nos.9 and 10 as well as the Auditor and the Chartered Accountant being impleaded as Respondent No.11 and other Respondents being impleaded as Directors of the Companies and submit the Action taken Report to this Court.

On hearing Mr.Khandelwal, we confronted him that our writ jurisdiction will not extend for an inaction on part of the Registrar of Companies (“ROC”) against the Directors or the Companies, as in short, what the Petitioner is alleging is, violation at the instance of the Companies and the Directors and this aspect can only be looked into by the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) or the ROC, in the wake of the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Registrar of Companies stating that because of the communication from the Prime Minister’s Office, Public Grievance Portal, the Registrar of Companies is not taking cognizance of the complaint.

2. On the other hand, we find a Writ Petition filed by Indira Agarwal & Ors., raising a challenge to the vires of the provisions of Section 206(5) of the Companies Act, 2013, as it has received a notice under the said provision, asking it to submit to the jurisdiction by furnishing the necessary documents.

Writ Petition No.3672 of 2021 also request a direction to the Prime Ministers’ Office, Grievances Cell and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances to formulate safeguards for action in respect of malicious complaints, as it is the grievance of the Petitioners that the notice issued by the Registrar of Companies is mala fide, as it is a notice issued under dictate.

3. In any case, the grievance of the Petitioners in both the Petitions definitely cannot be entertained in exercise of our writ jurisdiction and particularly, when much time has passed since institution of the proceedings. It is for the NCLT or the ROC to look into the grievance, and therefore, by granting the liberty to the Petitioners to take recourse to such remedies, as are available, we dispose of the Writ Petitions.

4. As far as the challenge to the provisions of Section 206(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 raised in Writ Petition No.3672 of 2021 is concerned, we permit the same to be raised at appropriate time in appropriate proceedings.

5. In view of the disposal of the Writ Petitions, nothing survives in the pending applications and the same are disposed of.

(R.N.LADDHA, J.) (BHARATI DANGRE, J.)