The MCA has, on May 8, 2019, amended Rule 4(1) of the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Registrar of Companies) Rules 2016 (‘Removal of Name Rules’) (effective as on May 10, 2019), whereby any company which is filing Form No. STK-2 for removing its name from the register of companies, is required to have necessarily filed overdue returns in Form No. AOC-4 (financial statements) or AOC-4 XBRL, as the case may be, and Form No. MGT-7 (annual returns), upto the end of the financial year in which the company ceased to carry its business operations. Additionally, in case a company intends to file Form No. STK-2 after the Registrar of Companies (‘RoC’) has sent a notice to the company setting out his intent to remove the name of the company from the register of companies, such company must file all pending overdue returns, in the manner set out above, before filing Form No. STK-2. Further, if the RoC has already initiated action to remove the name of the company, Form No. STK – 2 cannot be filed by the company.