Any gathering, assembly or coming together of two or more persons for the transaction of some lawful business of common concern is called µmeeting¶. - P.K. Ghosh
CHARACTERISTICS
A meeting is held at a specific place & time. A company¶s meeting is held according to the provisions of companies Act. Before meeting is held, members are given a notice about meeting. Members of company get together for discussing & taking decision on some lawful business of company.
KINDS OF MEETINGS
Company¶s Meetings
Shareholders Meeting
Board of Directors Meeting
Creditors Meeting
Debenture Holders Meeting
Statutory Meeting
Annual General Meeting
Extraordinary General Meeting
Class Meeting
SHAREHOLDERS¶ MEETING
A company¶s shareholders are its de facto owners, but since they are scattered over a wide area & too many in number, they are not in position to run the affairs of company. To protect the interest of shareholders various provisions have been made in companies Act,1956 so that shareholders can participate in decision making of the company. It can be of many types such as:
1. STATUTORY MEETING
According to sec 165 of companies Act, ³every company limited by shares & every company limited by guarantee & having a share capital ,shall, with in a period of not less than 1 month & not more than 6 months from the date at which the company is entitled to commence business, hold a general meeting of the members of the company which shall be called the statutory meeting´. This is called only once in the lifetime of a company.
NECESSITY OF STATUTORY MEETING
It must necessarily be called by a company limited by shares or by guarantee & having a share capital. The following companies don¶t need to call a statutory meeting:
A private company A company limited by guarantee but not having share capital A private company that is later converted to a public company
LEGAL PROVISIONS
Statutory Report Certification of Report Filling of Report with Registrar Procedure of Meeting Consequences of failure to hold Statutory Meeting
2. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Every company must hold in each year, in addition to any other meetings, which is called the company¶s annual general meeting. In normal course, such meeting is called by company only. But in special circumstance the central government in exercise of the powers vested in it, may also call a company¶s annual general meeting.
STATUTORY PROVISIONS
Time interval for calling the meeting Notice place of meeting Sending copies of balance sheet & auditors¶ report to members Consequences of not holding the annual general meeting Company law board calling the meeting Penalty
3. EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
Besides statutory & annual general meetings, any meeting of the company¶s shareholders called for whatever purpose is a extra ordinary meeting. It is called during the period between its two consecutive annual general meetings.
4. CLASS MEETINGS
When a company issues different classes of shares, it calls a meeting of that class of shareholders. Such meeting of a type of shareholders is called a class meeting. These meetings are called to alter or define the rights & obligations of a class of shareholders.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
A company being an µartificial person¶, performs all its actions through its directors. In fact, it is the director who manage the affairs of a company. .
CREDITORS MEETING
When a company issues debentures on its incorporation or issues any debentures later and wants to make an agreement with the holders of debentures, it calls a creditors meeting. It is not company¶s meeting because such meeting is organized by creditors.
DEBENTURE HOLDERS MEETING
When a company issues its debentures, it also plans the meetings of the holders of its debentures. The rules governing such meetings are printed on the reverse of the debenture certificates issued by the company. Such meetings are called when the company issues any fresh debentures or wants to alter the rate of interest on any debentures already issued.