The Hindu Business Line : Limited liability partnership: paper to be referred to panel

THE Government would refer the concept paper on the proposed limited liability partnership (LLP) law to the recently constituted Advisory Committee chaired by industrialist, Mr Kumaramangalam Birla.

"We have already come up with a concept paper on LLP law. The consultations with all stakeholders are in progress. Once the consultation process is over, we will refer the concept paper and the comments received from various quarters to the advisory committee chaired by Mr Kumaramangalam Birla," the Company Affairs Minister, Mr Prem Chand Gupta, said here on Friday.

A LLP has many of the features of a normal partnership, but offers reduced personal responsibility for business debts.

Advisory committee role: In his inaugural address at a seminar on "Fair Value Accounting: New Paradigms in Corporate Disclosure Norms", organised by Assocham, Mr Gupta said the basic intent behind the formation of the advisory committee was to involve the corporate sector and the professionals in the law making process.

The Ministry of Company Affairs had constituted the Advisory Committee in the third week of December last year to "advise the Central Government on such matters arising out of the administration of the Companies Act as may be referred to it by the Government".

Mr Gupta said the Advisory Committee comprised a Chairman and four members - Mr S.P. Talwar, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Mr B. Swaroop, Member, Income-Tax Settlement Commission, Mr Lalit Bhasin, Advocate, and Mr S.P. Narang, senior professor of Management.

The convenor of the Advisory Committee is Mr Jitesh Khosla, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Company Affairs. The members of the Advisory committee would hold office for a period of two years.

Companies Act: On the proposed new Companies Act, the Minister said the new Companies Bill would be introduced in Parliament shortly.

As regards the IPO scam and whether the Ministry plans to probe any of the entities or take action against any individuals involved in the scam, Mr Gupta said the RBI and the Securities and Exchange Board of India are seized of the matter.

"We are looking at what can be done on this (from the perspective of the Companies Act)," he said.