When a company is incorporated under the Companies Act 2013, the Registrar of Companies  ( RoC) enters the name of the company in a register maintained by him.  The name of the company shall remain there in the register so long it does business.  But,  when the company seems not carrying its business and  for other specific reasons as mentioned in the Companies Act 2013, the Registrar of Companies ( RoC) shall remove the name of a company from the Register of Companies maintained by him. Removing the name of the Company from the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar of Companies is generally called  as ‘Strike Off’  of  company.

As per section 248 of the Companies Act 2013 , Registrar of Companies can ‘Strike Off’  or Remove Name of Company from Register of Companies in the following circumstances:

(a) a company has failed to commence its business within one year of its incorporation

(b) a company is not carrying on any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and has not made any application within such period for obtaining the status of a dormant company  

© the subscribers to the memorandum have not paid the subscription which they had undertaken to pay at the time of incorporation of a company and a declaration to this effect has not been filed within one hundred and eighty days of its incorporation and

(d) the company is not carrying on any business or operations, as revealed after the physical verification of  registered office of the company.

Registrar of Companies shall send a notice to the company and all the directors of the company, of his intention to remove the name of the company from the register of companies and requesting them to send their representations along with copies of the relevant documents, if any, within a period of thirty days from the date of the notice.  The notice issued shall be published in the prescribed manner in the Official Gazette for the information of the general public.

At the expiry of the time mentioned in the notice, the Registrar may, unless cause to the contrary is shown by the company, strike off its name from the register of companies, and shall publish notice thereof in the Official Gazette, and on the publication in the Official Gazette of this notice, the company shall stand dissolved.

The Registrar, before passing an order of dissolution / strike off shall satisfy himself that sufficient provision has been made for the realisation of all amount due to the company and for the payment or discharge of its liabilities and obligations by the company within a reasonable time and, if necessary, obtain necessary undertakings from the managing director, director or other persons in charge of the management of the company:

Provided that notwithstanding the undertakings referred to in this sub-section, the assets of the company shall be made available for the payment or discharge of all its liabilities and obligations even after the date of the order removing the name of the company from the register of companies.

The liability, if any, of every director, manager or other officer who was exercising any power of management, and of every member of the company dissolved shall continue and may be enforced as if the company had not been dissolved.

Any person aggrieved by an order of the Registrar, notifying a company as dissolved may file an appeal to the Tribunal within a period of three years from the date of the order of the Registrar and if the Tribunal is of the opinion that the removal of the name of the company from the register of companies is not justified in view of the absence of any of the grounds on which the order was passed by the Registrar, it may order restoration of the name of the company in the register of companies:

Provided that before passing any order under this section, the Tribunal shall give a reasonable opportunity of making representations and of being heard to the Registrar, the company and all the persons concerned :

Provided further that if the Registrar is satisfied, that the name of the company has been struck off from the register of companies either inadvertently or on the basis of incorrect information furnished by the company or its directors, which requires restoration in the register of companies, he may within a period of three years from the date of passing of the order dissolving the company, file an application before the Tribunal seeking restoration of name of such company.

If a company, or any member or creditor or workman thereof feels aggrieved by the company having its name struck off from the register of companies, the Tribunal on an application made by the company, member, creditor or workman before the expiry of twenty years from the publication in the Official Gazette of the notice under sub-section (5) of section 248 may, if satisfied that the company was, at the time of its name being struck off, carrying on business or in operation or otherwise it is just that the name of the company be restored to the register of companies, order the name of the company to be restored to the register of companies, and the Tribunal may, by the order, give such other directions and make such provisions as deemed just for placing the company and all other persons in the same position as nearly as may be as if the name of the company had not been struck off from the register of companies.

A copy of the order passed by the Tribunal shall be filed by the company with the Registrar within thirty days from the date of the order and on receipt of the order, the Registrar shall cause the name of the company to be restored in the register of companies and shall issue a fresh certificate of incorporation.