1. The Board of Directors of any company or any person or authority exercising the powers of the Board of Directors of a company, or of the company in general meeting, may, notwithstanding anything contained in sections 180, 181 and section 182 or any other provision of this Act or in the memorandum, articles or any other instrument relating to the company, contribute such amount as it thinks fit to the National Defence Fund or any other Fund approved by the Central Government for the purpose of national defence.
2. Every company shall disclose in its profits and loss account the total amount or amounts contributed by it to the Fund referred to in sub-section (1 ) during the financial year to which the amount relates.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 183
Section 183 establishes an extraordinary non-obstante statutory authorization empowering the Board of Directors or general meeting to contribute unlimited corporate funds to the National Defence Fund or approved sovereign defence funds, superseding all statutory and charter limitations.
When approving national defence contributions, verify that the designated recipient is an officially gazetted sovereign fund (such as the Prime Minister's National Defence Fund). Ensure that the board resolution specifically invokes Section 183 to protect the directors from shareholder claims alleging breach of fiduciary duty or violation of the general borrowing and expenditure ceilings under Section 180.