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Richa Mishra

New Delhi , Oct. 23

THE move to establish a Quality Review Board (QRB) has found few takers among the Company Secretaries (CS) community with a majority of the professionals preferring the concept of a Peer Review Board (PRB) instead.

The Companies Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2003 envisages setting up of a QRB, to review the quality of services provided by the members of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) including secretarial audit.

The QRB would consist of five members belonging to the fields of law, education, business, finance, and accountancy or public administration. It would also guide the members in improving quality of services as well as adherence to various statutory requirements.

"In a system of PRB, it's the professionals who review and make a judgement on each other's audit safeguards," according to a senior ICSI official.

Currently, the institute functions as a self-regulatory body. The Government can step in only if there is a case of mismanagement in the affairs of the institute.

With the establishment of a QRB, it will be people from outside the profession, who will review the services provided by CS professionals.

Some of the other issues in the Bill that have been worrying the professionals include the powers of Central Government to dissolve the Council of the ICSI.

"There is no need for the Government to have such sweeping powers. It would affect the autonomy of the Institute," CS professionals pointed out. Further, the cap on the annual membership fee proposed in the Bill has also irked the professionals. "Though the Government has raised the existing fee it has put a cap of Rs 3,000, which is not required," they argued. The Bill seeks to provide that the Council, with the prior approval of the Union Government, may determine the fee of fellow members of the Institute.

Regarding the proposal in the Bill on composition of the Council, sources said, "Number of Government nominees should be limited to 20 per cent of the Council strength." As per the Bill the Council shall comprise not more than 15 members having maximum of five Government nominees. The Bill has since been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

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