Rules uploaded on MCA portal under Companies Act, 2013 won't be effective until their publication in gazette; HC

Bombay High Court questions application of Rules framed under Companies Act, 2013 from 1-4-2014, without they being notified in Gazette

The Bombay High Court held as under:
1)The website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs3 has, on its front page, a link to a single scanned PDF file entitled "COMPANIES ACT 2013 - STATEMENT OF NOTIFICATION OF RULES".4 Some 21 rules are listed. They are all said to be effective 1st April 2014. Several of these are not yet gazette.

2)A question was raised that how any such rules can be made effective on this basis where a ministry simply puts up some scanned document under the signature of one of its officers but sans any publication in the official gazette. That publication is not an idle formality. It has a well-established legal purpose. That purpose is not and cannot be achieved in this ad-hoc manner.

3)Therefore, till such time as these rules are gazetted, or there is some provision made for the dispensation of official gazette notification, none of the rules in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs PDF document that are not yet gazetted can be said to be in force. - WADALA COMMODITIES LTD., IN RE [2014] 45 taxmann.com 245 (Bombay)