Comments
Listed companies or companies with 1,000 shareholders or more — who are required to provide e-voting facility under company law — have now been allowed to hold Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) through Video Conferencing (VC) or other audio visual means (OAVM) and e-voting.
This forms part of the new procedure issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) for conduct of EGMs before June 30 this year in the backdrop of the current extraordinary circumstances of Covid-19 pandemic prevailing in the country.
For other companies, a highly simplified mechanism for voting through registered emails has been put in place for easy compliance, the MCA said in a circular issued on Wednesday.
This relaxation is significant as the Company Law does not have any specific provision for allowing conduct of members’ meetings through VC or OAVM.
It would enable corporates to take certain urgent measures in the face of extreme disruptions and dislocation caused by the pandemic.
Leveraging digital strengths
It may be recalled that the MCA had earlier allowed all meetings of the Board of Directors up to June 30 to be conducted through VC or OAVM, including meetings on items where the physical presence of directors is otherwise required.
The latest framework on conduct of EGM via video-conferencing leverages the strengths of digital India by using a combination of VC and e-Voting/simplified voting through registered emails to enable companies conduct their EGMs, an official release said.
As the meetings will be conducted over VC/OAVM, the facility for appointment of proxies has been dispensed with, while representatives of bodies corporate will continue to get appointed for participation in such meetings, the release added.
This framework allows the companies to hold shareholders’ EGMs through VC/ OAVM without compromising on the other requirements of law. As an additional check, all companies using this option are required to maintain a recorded transcript of the entire proceedings in safe custody, and public companies are also required to host this transcript on their website for greater transparency.
Further, all resolutions passed through this framework will be required to be filed with the RoC within 60 days, so that such resolutions may be viewed publicly. Other safeguards have also been included in the Circular to ensure transparency, accountability and protection of interests of investors, the release said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.