As letters don't reach on time, key meet on shell cos cancelled

New Delhi: In a bizarre incident, a crucial meeting to review the progress of action taken by states on shell companies was postponed as letters sent to Chief Secretaries of states didn't get delivered on time. According to sources, the important letter didn't get delivered to concerned officials due to extended weekend holidays. "The much-awaited meeting was scheduled for Monday (October 23) and Minister of State for Corporate Affairs PP Choudhary along with officials of his ministry was on time to chair it," the source said.

According to sources, the minister directed his officials to re-schedule the crucial meet after he found that only 3-4 secretaries had come to attend it. On enquiring about low attendance, the minister was told that letters sent to Chief Secretaries was dispatched after Diwali due to which it didn't get delivered, the source said, adding that the states were asked to come with a consolidated list with identification details of shell companies registered in their respective states.

"In the meeting, it was to be discussed about different initiatives being enforced by states to put a check on shell companies. Also, the Centre and states were to brainstorm over their plans to crack a whip on shell companies," the sources said, adding that apart from states, other stakeholders were also supposed to attend the meet.

As Choudhary, who is also co-incharge for the Gujarat polls, has paucity of time, and wants to bring all stakeholders on board for better implementation of proposed stringent policy to control shell companies, he directed concerned officials to re-schedule the meeting in next week, the sources said.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has already initiated action to de-register over 2 lakh companies that had not filed returns. The revenue department and the ministry are working together to act against these companies that have little business and are used for money laundering. The authorities suspect that these companies might have been used to deposit illicit cash during demonetisation.

Data compiled by the revenue department says that Rs 4,600 crore was deposited through the bank accounts of 6,000 such companies– some companies had 900 bank accounts.