The Magic Bullet

The Magic Bullet by Harry Stein is a medical thriller on the likes of Robin Cook books The Coma. Daniel Logan is an up and coming medical scientist who wants to work in frontier research in cancer cure. He is accepted into the prestigious American Cancer Foundation, and stumbles upon a magic cure for cancer. But the machinations and deviousness of his seniors at the ACF puts paid to his efforts. How he extricates himself and his Italian girlfriend forms the rest of the narrative. I would sya a pulsating throbbing medical thriller. Goodreads 5/5

Class Action Suits

Section 245 of the companies act, 2013 is a new addition in the 2013 Act, which provides for a class action suit to be filed by such number of member(s)/ depositor(s) against the company. Vast powers have been given in the section against the company. The application under this section has to be made to the National company law tribunal (NCLT). But the Rules under this section which is in the National Company Law Tribunal Rules did not hitherto specify how many members/ depositors are required in order to file an application.

By an amendment to the NCLT Rules, the MCA has sorted that matter out.

So the class action suit can be brought by at least 5% of the total number of members in a company or 100 members, whichever is less.

Alternatively it can be bought by member or members holding not less than 5% of the issued share capital of the company in case of unlisted company and 2% in case of listed company.


In case of depositors, it is

5% of the total number of depositors or 100 depositors whichever is less OR

depositor or depositors to whom the company owes 5% of the total deposits of the company.

The copy of the notification can be found at the MCA site.

Strike off Rules

MCA has vide its notification dated 8th May, 2019 made some amendments to the rules governing strike off of companies. This is the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from Register), Rules, 2016.

Well, first and foremost, they have doubled the fees for making an application for strike off from Rs.5000/- to Rs.10,000/-.

Secondly, they have clarified that all pending annual e-forms have to be filed by the company before making an application for strike off in form STK-2. Hitherto, this was not required and different ROCs interpreted it differently. This brings in uniformity. But MCA should have provided for closure of the companies without having to file the baggage annual e-forms. It will lead to huge cost to the company to file all delayed annual e-forms because the late fees is now Rs.100 per day from 1st July, 2018 onwards. It is not ease of doing business.

Thirdly if the company intends to file an STK-2 application after the MCA has initiated steps to close down the company, then also the company has to file all pending and overdue annual e-forms to make it upto date.

However, once the MCA has issued a notice to the company in form STK-7 after initiating closure action against the company as per above, then the company cannot file the form STK-2. Meaning once the action gets initiated at the MCA end, then the company cannot subvert it by filing a STK-2 application.

The accounts of the company which has to be attached to the form STK-2 is provided in form STK-8.

The copy of the notification is available at the MCA site. 

A Place called Freedom

This is of a different genre by Ken Follett, the master story teller. This is a historical fiction novel set in Scotland of 1766 when slave trade existed. Mack McAsh is a coal miner in the employ of Sir George Jamisson. Sir George has two sons and apart from mines he has some plantations in Virginia and some sugar plantation in Barbados. But he is perennially indebted. So he has to marry off his eldest son to Lizzie Halim of the Halim Estate. Lizzie's mother is also severely indebted and she seeks the hand of Robert the eldest son of Sir George. Mack is involved in a coal mining incident where he rescues several people. He constantly seeks freedom from slavery. The Halim estate does not have any mines but it is reckoned that after the marriage between the two families, mines can start there. But Lizzie is against such thing having seen with her own eyes the kind of degrading lives led by the miners. Follett is brilliant in his narrative and the pages moves exceedingly fast. Goodreads 5/5  

The Abduction

The Abduction by Mark Gimenez, my first one by him. Quite an engrossing and thrilling book of an abduction of a school girl with links going back to the Vietnam war, politics, bullying, neo Nazis, FBI. Mark takes the story on several levels but stays in contention with his narrative. Good book for those looking for a fast fiction. Goodreads review 5/5

Genesis

Genesis - a 1986 movie starring Nazeeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and MK Raina. Nazeer and Om are leftovers in a remote, barren, desert and their only contact with the outside world is a trader MK Raina who comes weekly to take their products which is woven blankets and supplies them with food items and all. Nazeer discovers a human skull while digging the ground one day which bemuses both of them. Then Shabana comes out of nowhere - hungry, emaciated, desolate and narrates her story of her family lost in the floods. The three of them bond together until the sexual desire overpowers them and Shabana gets pregnant in the movie. There is a kind of eeriness to the movie more so to do with the discovery of the human skull. The landscape is true to plot and of course when you have three power houses acting in one movie, it is bound to be dramatic. Mrinal uses a lot of natural light in the scenes and his direction is of course outstanding. Rating 5/5

Neel Akasher Neechey

This was a beautiful movie directed by Mrinal Sen and starring Kali Banerjee, Manju Dey in the lead roles. Set in the 1930s it delves into a brother sister relationship between a Chinese hawker and an Indian housewife who is active in the Indian resistance movement. The Chinese hawker is played by Kali Banerjee and he speaks only Hindi or English in the movie. He has a background in China where he loses his only sister because he has to pay his debts to the landlord and because of overworking he falls ill and his sister pledges one necklace which he had given to her for getting some money. Instead she gets raped and when the brother comes to know it, he mercilessly throws her out of the house losing her forever. Therefore when Bosonti played by Manju calls him brother he showers all his brotherly love on her causing some friction and jealousy amongst her family members and his lady love also. Manju Dey plays the role of Bosonti quite brilliantly. Mrinal Sen has done a super job with the movie.