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Richa Mishra

New Delhi , Jan. 13

WORRIED that the period of self-regulation may give way to a bureaucratic regime if the Bill to amend the Company Secretaries Act becomes a law, professionals want contentious issues in the Bill to be resolved.

Some of the issues that the professionals want addressed are the establishment of a quality review board and the power given to the Centre to dissolve the Council of the Institute.

The Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament in December 2003 and has since been referred to a Parliamentary Committee.

Sources told Business Line that since the Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India is in the process of constituting a peer review board, there may not be a need to constitute a quality review board. However, if it is still felt necessary, it can be set up by the Council of the Institute, with powers to review the quality of performance of members, sources said.

Further, the Council of the Institute should be allowed to appoint the members of the quality review board from among its members. The Bill proposes setting up of the board to fix standards for the services being provided by the institute members and review the quality of services. According to sources, this objective can be effectively discharged if the board members have thorough insight into the profession.

Regarding the power of dissolution of the council being vested with the Central Government, the professionals said such a clause may be withdrawn as it is not in line with the current Government policy of deregulation. However, if it is still felt that such a sweeping power to dissolve a democratically elected council should be vested with the Government, there should be a provision to file an appeal against the Government decision, they said.

On the issue of vesting the Government with certain rule making powers for governing the profession, the company secretaries fraternity said it should be left with the council as it is today.

The existing process involves exhaustive consultations with Government before the rules are framed. As far as prescribing the fee for the members of ICSI is concerned, the professionals say there should be no cap on the fee and the Council of the Institute should be authorised to decide the different kinds of fees payable by the members from time to time.

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