SHC Dismisses Company Petition Filed Against The Firm’s Client

Mohsin Tayebaly & Co. recently represented a client who was the Respondent in a company petition filed before the High Court of Sindh under Section 497(1) of the Companies Act, 2017. The Petitioner pleaded that the High Court to take cognizance and penalize its former employee under Section 497(1) for allegedly withholding the records of the company after having been terminated from service.

MTC successfully represented the Respondent, assisted the Court and the Petition was dismissed. The Court held that under Section 477 read with Section 482 of the 2017 Act, the Special Court (Offences in Banks) Karachi is designated to take cognizance of only those offences that are punishable by imprisonment and listed in the Eight Schedule to the 2017 Act.

It held that while the Eight Schedule includes the offence under sub-section (1) of Section 497 for that is not punishable by imprisonment but only by way of a fine. The Court also clarified that as per Section 478 read with Section 476 of the 2017 Act, it is SECP that has exclusive jurisdiction to take cognizance of an offence which is punishable by way of penalty/fine only and therefore the Petition was dismissed.

The matter was handled by Abdul Ahad Nadeem, Senior Associate.