Dividend and Interest — Secretarial Practice STD 12 Commerce / Arts — Question

Dividend declared by the company but neither paid to nor claimed by a shareholder within 30 days of its declaration is termed as Unpaid and Unclaimed Dividend. Following rules govern the Unpaid/Unclaimed Dividend:

• Unpaid/’Unclaimed should be transferred to ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’ opened in a scheduled Bank by the company.
• This transfer should be within 7 (seven) days of the end of 30 days within which payment was to be made. In other words, this transfer should happen within 37 (Thirty-seven) days from the declaration of dividend.
• Within 90 (Ninety) days of the transfer of amount in the ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’, the company is required to publish a statement mentioning the name, address and unpaid amount payable to the shareholder. This statement is to be published on the company’s website or any other website approved by the Central Government.
• If any person claims the dividend to the company after a long time, then the company is liable to pay the unpaid or unclaimed dividend to the person.
• Any amount in the Unpaid Dividend Account of a company that remains unpaid/ unclaimed for a period of 7 (seven) years from the date of such a transfer shall be, transferred by the company to ‘Investors Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
• The claimant of money will have to follow the procedures and submit necessary documents to get a claim from IEPF.