Q.Write a short note on class meetings and creditors' meetings.

Besides meetings of the whole body of shareholders or the whole Board, the law also recognises meetings held by a narrower group with a distinct interest of its own.

Class meetings. A company may have more than one class of shares (for example, equity shares and preference shares) or debentures, each carrying its own distinct set of rights. A class meeting is a meeting attended only by the holders of one such class, called mainly when the company wishes to vary the rights attached to that class. Under Section 48 of the Companies Act, 2013, the rights of a class of shareholders can be varied only with the consent in writing of holders of at least three-fourths of the issued shares of that class, or by a special resolution passed at a separate meeting of that class of shareholders — ensuring that a class whose rights are being changed gets a dedicated say, rather than being outvoted by the general body of shareholders as a whole. …

Students sometimes describe a class meeting as simply 'a meeting of some shareholders' without linking it to the variation-of-rights context of Section 48, or forget that creditors' meetings …