What is meant by oppression

.9lns. Sections 397 and 398 of the Companies Act, 1956 empower the members of a
company having a right to apply by virtue of Section 399, to apply to the Company Law Board (CLB) regarding prevention of oppression and mismanagement. The petition to the CLB is to be made in accordance with the procedure lai~ down in the CLB (Regulations), 1991. Accordingly, the petition should be made to the principal bench of the CLB in Form No.1 as specified in Annexure IT to the CLB Regulations, 1991. The Form should be accompanied by the prescribed fee and the following documents:
(i) documentary and / or other evidence in support of the statements made in the
petition as are reasonably open to the petitioner(s};
(ii) documentary evidence in proof of the eligibility and status of the petitioner(s}
with the voting power held by each of them; (iii) the letter of consent of members, where petition is prescribed on their behalf;
(iv) statement of particulars showing names, addresses, number of shares held
and whether all call and other moneys due on shares have been paid in respect of members who have given consent to petition being presented on their behalf.
(v) where the petition is presented by a member(s} authorised by the Central Government under Section 399(4}, the order of the Central Government authorising such member(s} to present the petition; .
(vi) affidavit verifying the petition;
(vii) bank draft evidencing payment of application fee;
(viii) memorandum of appearance with a copy of Board's resolution or vakalatnama, .
. as the case may be;
(ix) three spare copies of the petition.
It may be noted that Section 399 requires that in case of a company having share
capital, the petition must be signed by at least 100 members of the company or
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1/10th of the total number of members, whichever is less, or by any member r members holding not less than l/lOth of the issued share capital of the'company. If
the company has no share capital, the application has to be signed by at least 1/10 . of the total number of its members. However, anyone or more of the members may make the application on behalf of and for the benefit of all of them a,fier having obtained their consent in writing.
A copy of the petition is to be served by the petitioners upon the concerned Registrar of Companies as well as upon the Central Government. The petition once made cannot be withdrawn without the leave of CLB.
Again, Section 408 confers powers on members to apply to CLB for prevention of oppression or mismanagement. In this case, not less than 100 me~bers of the company or members holding not less than 1/10th of the voting power may apply to the CLB.
Rest of the procedure is the same as explained above.
Q 8. What is meant by oppression? State whether the aggrieved party would succeed in obtaining relief from Company Law Board on the ground of oppression in
the following cases: '
(i) The majority of the Board of Directors override the minority Directors and the minority Directors apply to the Company Law Board complaining oppression by majority Directors.