Roma stated that she has been appointed as the Secretarial Auditor of Janak Textile Limited, which has its registered office in Chennai, India, and a branch office in California, USA. While conducting the secretarial aud

Books of Account in respect of branch office As per Section 128(2) and (3) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with rule 4(1) of the Companies (Accounts Rules) 2014, proper summarized return of the books of account of the company kept and maintained outside India shall be sent to the registered office at quarterly intervals, which shall be kept and maintained at the registered office of the company and which shall be kept open to directors for inspection. As per rule 4 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 where any other financial information maintained outside the country is required by a director, the director shall furnish a request to the company setting out the full details of the financial information sought and the period for which the information is sought. The company shall produce such financial information to the director within 15 days of the date of receipt of the written request. The financial information required by the director shall be sought for by the director himself and not by or through his holder of power of attorney or agent or any representative. In the light of the above provisions and the rule, the director concerned has a right to seek any other financial information maintained outside the country by giving a proper request with full details of the information sought. Hence, the contention of the Board is not correct and its decision to deny the information is not valid.