Companies Permitted To Hold EGM Through Video Conference Or Other Audio Visual Means Upto 30th September, 2020

Rule 4 of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014 (“Rule”) details the matters which cannot be dealt with in a meeting through video conferencing or other audio-visual means which include important agendas such as the approval of the annual financial statements, the approval of the board’s report, the approval of the prospectus, the Audit Committee Meetings for consideration of account and the approval of the matter relating to amalgamation, merger, demerger, acquisition, and takeover. Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Amendment Rules, 2020 dated March 19, 2020,[1] decided to relax the requirement of holding board meetings with the physical presence of directors for such abovementioned agendas. However, with no sight of the pandemic situation heading to betterment, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has further relaxed the physical presence requirements of the companies holding board meeting for a period of three months, i.e companies are permitted to conduct board meetings through video conferencing or other audio visual methods till September 30, 2020.