How-To · Company Closure · Last verified October 2026

How to Object to a Company Strike Off (2026)

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

A company strike off is not always welcome news to everyone. If you are a creditor who is owed money, a member who was kept in the dark, or anyone with a live claim, a strike off can wipe the company off the register and leave your claim stranded. The good news is that a strike off can be opposed, and a company wrongly struck off can be brought back. This guide explains how to object to a strike off in India: why it matters, who can object, how to object while the Registrar's notice is still open, and how to restore a company that is already struck off through the NCLT. It is general information, not legal advice. Last verified October 2026.

01Why objecting matters

When a company is struck off, its name is removed from the register and it ceases to exist as a legal person. For an outsider that can be a problem. A creditor may find the entity it wanted to sue or recover from has vanished. A member or director may find the company closed without proper notice or resolution. A party to litigation may lose the entity it had a claim against.

Strike off is also sometimes misused as a way to shed liabilities quietly. That is exactly why the law builds in a public-notice stage before strike off, and a restoration remedy afterwards: so that an affected person can object in time, or undo a strike off that should not have happened.

Strike off makes a company disappear. If you are owed money or have a claim, objecting in time, or restoring the company, is how you keep your remedy alive.

02How a strike off happens

A strike off under Section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013 happens in one of two ways: the company itself applies, in Form STK-2, saying it has no assets or liabilities and is not trading; or the Registrar moves to strike off a company on its own, for example where the company has not been carrying on business for a period or has not filed returns.

In both cases, before the name is actually removed, the Registrar issues a public notice inviting objections, which is published to give creditors, members and the public a chance to respond. That notice window is the first and best opportunity to object, because stopping a strike off before it completes is simpler than restoring a company afterwards.

03Who can object

The people who can oppose a strike off, or seek restoration, include:

• A creditor who is owed money by the company.
• A member (shareholder) whose interest is affected.
• A workman with a claim against the company.
• The company itself, where it was struck off by the Registrar but was in fact operating.
• The Registrar, who can itself apply to restore a company struck off in error.
• Any person aggrieved by the strike-off order, including a party with a live claim or litigation against the company.

If you fall into one of these groups and a strike off would harm you, you have standing to act, either at the notice stage or by seeking restoration.

04Objecting during the public notice

The cleanest way to stop a strike off is to respond while the Registrar's public notice is open:

• Watch for the notice. The Registrar publishes the proposed strike off; a creditor or member monitoring the company's status can catch it.
• File a written objection with the Registrar that issued the notice, setting out who you are, your interest or claim, and why the company should not be struck off, for example that it owes you money or is actually carrying on business.
• Attach your proof: the invoice or loan document for a debt, the court filing for a pending case, or evidence of operations if the company is wrongly treated as defunct.
• Keep the acknowledgement and follow up.

A valid objection, with a genuine liability or an ongoing business, is a reason for the Registrar not to proceed with the strike off, because a company with outstanding liabilities is not eligible to be struck off in the first place.

05If it is already struck off: restoration

If the company has already been struck off, the remedy moves to the National Company Law Tribunal under Section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013. There are two broad routes:

• Appeal against the strike-off order, Section 252(1): a person aggrieved by the Registrar's order can appeal to the NCLT. This route carries a shorter time limit.
• Application for restoration, Section 252(3): the company, or a member, creditor or workman, can apply to the NCLT to restore the company's name, where it is just to do so, for example where the company was carrying on business or restoration is otherwise fair.

The Tribunal looks at whether the company was actually operating when struck off, whether anyone is prejudiced, and whether restoration is just. If it is satisfied, it orders the name restored to the register as if it had never been struck off, subject to conditions such as filing overdue returns. For the strike-off and revival process in full, see strike off and reviving a struck-off company.

06Time limits and evidence

Timing is decisive, so note the two windows under Section 252:

• An appeal under Section 252(1) is generally to be filed within three years of the Registrar's strike-off order.
• An application under Section 252(3) can be filed up to twenty years from the publication of the strike-off notice in the Official Gazette.

Confirm which window and route fit your facts, because the deadline runs from different events. On evidence, the strength of a restoration case is the proof that the company was active or that you have a genuine claim: bank statements, invoices, tax filings, contracts, employee records, or the pleadings in a pending case. Objecting or applying without that proof rarely succeeds, so build the record before you file.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Filing an objection or a restoration application is work for you and your advocate, and Claw does not file for you. Where Claw helps is in catching a strike off in time and running the matter. If you are a creditor or a party with a claim, you can track a company's status and any NCLT strike-off, restoration or winding-up proceeding by name, so a public notice or a hearing date reaches you through alerts and monitoring across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, rather than a strike off slipping past you. To check what is on record for a company or a director, run a case search across Indian courts by name, and see how to search NCLT cases online. To cite how the NCLT has treated restoration and the test of a company carrying on business, its Legal GPT researches across 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990. Results return in under 5 seconds, and Claw does not train its AI models on your documents. A clean case-search result means nothing was found on the forums and date searched, under the names used, not that no matter exists. This is general information, not legal advice.

08Sources and further reading

• Ministry of Corporate Affairs (strike off and public notice): mca.gov.in
• National Company Law Tribunal (restoration under Section 252): nclt.gov.in
• India Code (Companies Act, 2013): indiacode.nic.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Time limits and procedure are strict and fact-specific; confirm the current position on the MCA and NCLT portals and take advice before acting.

09Frequently asked questions