The petitions challenged the list published by the Ministry of Commercial Affairs in September 2017, disqualifying nearly three lakh directors under Section 164(2) (a) and Section 167(1) (a) for failing to file annual returns and statements for a period of three consecutive years. The petitioners had contended that the time at which disqualification was notified by the MCA, the period for filing annual returns and statements had not got over after April1, 2014 i.e. the date when the Companied Act, 2013 came into force. The Annual General Meeting has to be held within six months of the closing of the financial year. The annual returns could be filed within 60 days of the AGM and financial statements could be filed within 30 days of the AGM. Therefore, for filing annual returns and financial statements, the directors had time till November 30, 2017 and October 30, 2017, respectively. However, the now quashed list of disqualified directors was published on the 12th of September, 2017.