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Section 120: Maintenance and inspection of documents in electronic form

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Section 119 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 121
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Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 120

Section 120 of the Companies Act, 2013 establishes the statutory framework for maintaining, inspecting, and furnishing corporate records, registers, and minute-books in electronic form, establishing digital authenticity and audit trail requirements across modern Indian companies.

  • Statutory Authorization of Electronic Registers: Any document, record, register, or minutes required to be kept or inspected under the Act may be maintained and furnished in electronic form, subject to the conditions prescribed under the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014.
  • Mandatory Electronic Maintenance for Prescribed Classes: Every listed company and every public company having not less than one thousand shareholders, debenture holders, or security holders is statutorily mandated to maintain its records in electronic form.
  • Digital Security, Integrity, and Auditability: The electronic records must be maintained in a format that ensures complete security, prevents unauthorized alteration, guarantees immediate readability and printability, and preserves verifiable audit logs under the personal responsibility of the Managing Director or Company Secretary.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. v. Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd., (2021) 9 SCC 449: The Supreme Court observed that electronic records and governance communications maintained under corporate statutory mandates carry a presumption of procedural authenticity unless specific, substantiated evidence of digital tampering or bad faith is established.
  • Sham Sunder Sharma v. Vimal Dyeing and Printing Mills Ltd., 2019 SCC OnLine NCLT 12584: The NCLT held that maintaining registers and records in electronic form under Section 120 fully satisfies statutory inspection requirements, and deliberate failure to provide electronic copies to a director or member constitutes an actionable statutory default.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

When introducing electronic minute-books or statutory registers into evidence before the NCLT or commercial courts, ensure strict compliance with Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act (or Section 63 of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023). Accompany the digital extracts with a certificate from the Company Secretary or IT head verifying server custody, digital timestamping, and the absence of system tampering during the relevant period.

Section 119 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 121