Companies Act

Section 77. Duty To Register Charges, Etc

(1) It shall be the duty of every company creating a charge within or outside India, on its property or assets or any of its undertakings, whether tangible or otherwise, and situated in or outside India, to register the particulars of the charge signed by the company and the charge-holder together with the instruments, if any, creating such charge in such form, on payment of such fees and in such manner as may be prescribed, with the Registrar within thirty days of its creation:

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¹[Provided that the Registrar may, on an application by the company, allow such registration to be made–

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(a) in case of charges created before the commencement of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, within a period of three hundred days of such creation; or

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(b) in case of charges created on or after the commencement of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, within a period of sixty days of such creation,

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on payment of such additional fees as may be prescribed:

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Provided further that if the registration is not made within the period specified–

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(a) in clause (a) to the first proviso, the registration of the charges shall be made within six months from the date of commencement of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, on payment of such additional fees as may be prescribed and different fees may be prescribed for different classes of companies;

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(b) in clause (b) to the first proviso, the Registrar may, on an application, allow such registration to be made within a further period of sixty days after payment of such ad valorem fees as may be prescribed.]

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Provided also that any subsequent registration of a charge shall not prejudice any right acquired in respect of any property before the charge is actually registered:

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²[Provided also that this section shall not apply to such charges as may be prescribed in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.]

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(2) Where a charge is registered with the Registrar under sub-section (1), he shall issue a certificate of registration of such charge in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed to the company and, as the case may be, to the person in whose favour the charge is created.

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(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no charge created by a company shall be taken into account by the liquidator ³[appointed under this Act or the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (31 of 2016), as the case may be,] or any other creditor unless it is duly registered under sub-section (1) and a certificate of registration of such charge is given by the Registrar under sub-section (2).

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(4) Nothing in sub-section (3) shall prejudice any contract or obligation for the repayment of the money secured by a charge.

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1. Subs. by Act 22 of 2019, s. 11, for first and second provisos (w.e.f. 2-11-2018).
2. The proviso ins. by Act 1 of 2018, s. 18 (w.e.f. 7-5-2018).
3. Ins. by Act 31 of 2016, s. 255 and the Eleventh Schedule (w.e.f. 15-11-2016).