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Section 158: Obligation to indicate Director Identification Number

Companies Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

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Act 2013
Section 157 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 159
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Company Sec 2(20) Director Sec 2(34) Tribunal Sec 2(90)

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 158

Section 158 of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates that every person or company must quote the Director Identification Number (DIN) in every return, information, or particulars furnished or submitted to the Registrar or government authorities.

  • Mandatory Quotation of DIN on Regulatory Filings: Every return, balance sheet, financial statement, notice, or document filed with the Registrar or other statutory authorities under the Act must explicitly state the DIN of the director concerned.
  • Universal Applicability across Officers and Companies: The statutory mandate binds both the individual director signing the document and the corporate entity submitting the filing, ensuring transparent attribution of managerial actions.
  • Cross-Statutory Identity Verification: Facilitates seamless inter-regulatory data sharing between MCA, SEBI, the Income Tax Department, and law enforcement agencies by establishing an unambiguous audit trail.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Anand Kumar v. Registrar of Companies, (2018) 209 Comp Cas 180 (Del): The Delhi High Court held that omitting the DIN on statutory returns impairs the transparent operation of the MCA portal and constitutes a statutory default attracting penal consequences.
  • B.R. Sengupta v. Union of India, 2017 SCC OnLine Cal 18320: The Calcutta High Court held that Section 158 establishes an unyielding requirement that every director signing corporate instruments and filings must affix their DIN to ensure unequivocal traceability.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Secretarial compliance checklists must verify that every corporate document, Board report, audited financial statement, and MCA e-form bears the DIN adjacent to the signature of each director. In corporate litigation before the NCLT, examine the opposing party's filed board resolutions: the absence of a quoted DIN can be raised as a preliminary defect to challenge the validity of the document's execution under Section 158.

Section 157 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 159