The major highlights
of the achievements of the Ministry of corporate Affairs in the current fiscal
year is as follows:
§ The Companies
(Amendment) Act, 2015 [21 of 2015] has been published in the
Gazette on 26th May, 2015, and is also available on the Ministry’s
website. The Amendment Act addresses the practical difficulties faced by the
companies/stakeholders as brought out by Industry Chambers and other agencies
in complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. It is aimed at
facilitating ‘ease of doing business’.
Barring sections 13 and 14 of the
Amendment Act. All the sections of the Amendment Act have been brought into
force w.e.f. 29th May, 2015. The consequential changes in following
five sets of rules prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013 have also been
notified with effect from such date:-
·
The
Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014
·
The
Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014
·
The
Companies (Registration of Charges) Rules, 2014
·
The
Companies (Declaration and Payment of Divident) Rules, 2014
·
The
Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014
§ Companies
Law Committee (CLC)
The Ministry has, on 5th June, 2015, constituted a Companies Law
Committee:-
(i)
To
make recommendations to the Government on issues arising from the
implementation of the Companies Act, 2013 and
(ii)
To
examine the recommendations received from the Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee,
the High Level Committee on CSR, the Law Commission and other agencies, while
undertaking (i) above.
The
Committee is headed by Secretary, MCA. Ms. Reva Khetrapal, former Judge, Delhi
High Court, Presidents of the ICAI, ICAI (Cost) and Representatives from CII
and FICCI are the other Members of the Committee. Joint Secretary (Policy), MCA
is the Member-Convener of the Committee. The Committee has constituted Six
groups under the Convenorship/Chairmanship of one member each of the CLC with
members drawn from Industry and experts in order to broad base the consultations
process. The CLC has completed deliberations on key recommendations of five of
the Groups and is likely to submit its recommendations within six months of its
first meeting.
§ Exemptions
under section 462 for various classes of companies
The Ministry,
on 5th June, 2015 issued the final notifications under Section 462
of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), which provide for exemptions under various
provisions of the Act to (i) Private Companies; (ii) Government Companies;
(iii) Section 8 Companies and (iv) Nidhis. The notifications are available at
the Ministry’s website at www.mca.gov.in.
§ Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR)
A
High Level Committee was constituted under Chairmanship of Shri Anil Baijal,
former Union Secretary, to suggest measures for monitoring the progress in
implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies by companies
at their level and by the Government. The Committee submitted its report on 22nd
September, 2015. The report of the Committee has been placed on the Ministry’s
website.
*****
DSM/MAM