Nirupam seeks action against Gadkari, Tawde over multiple DINs

Mumbai: Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam today wrote a letter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), seeking prosecution of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde for allegedly possessing multiple Director Identification Numbers (DINs), a punishable offence.

Quoting from MCA's website, he said Union Transport Minister Gadkari is in possession of 6 DINs, while Education Minister of Maharashtra Tawde has three such numbers againsthis name.

DIN is a unique 8 digit number that is required for any existing or proposed Director of a company. Tawde has claimed only one of the three DINs had been approved.

"A press release from your Ministry, issued on July 11, 2014, said people with duplicate DINs had been identified and that directions had been issued to verify these. "It is surprising that despite 18 months having passed since this release, such high profile individuals are still able to hold multiple DINs," the letter written to Secretary of Ministry of Corporate Affairs Tapan Ray stated.

"Tawde claimed to the media that one of his three DINs had lapsed while the other was suspended. If this is in fact the case, I ask you to initiate a full inquiry into why the website shows him having 3 DINs," the Congress leader added.

The former Lok Sabha MP said Section 155 of the Companies Act expressly prohibits an individual from holding more than one DIN, while Section 159 provides for up to 6 months of imprisonment and Rs 50,000 penalty for those holding multiple DINs.

"I ask you to immediately initiate prosecution against Mr Gadkari and Mr Tawde under Section 159 of the Act and under any other relevant Sections as per your judgement," Nirupam said.