The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has given stakeholders time till July 19 to submit their comments on the proposed decriminalisation of compoundable offences under the Limited Liability Partnership ( LLP) Act.

To provide greater ease of doing business in India to law-abiding LLPs, the government had, last month, announced proposals to decriminalise the compoundable offences under LLP Act 2008. Public comments were earlier invited till July 4, but now the time limit has now been extended till July 19, official sources said.

LLP is basically an alternative corporate business vehicle that provides the benefits of limited liability, but allows its members the flexibility of organising their internal structure as a partnership based on a mutually arrived agreement.

The government plan is to decriminalise compoundable offences involving minor, procedural or technical violations, or offences that may not involve any harm to public interest. It may be recalled that the MCA had listed out 20 provisions of the LLP Act, along with the current punishment prescribed for violations of those provisions while seeking suggestions for the same.

The offences proposed to be decriminalised include non-compliance with norms regarding (1) eligibility and appointment of designated partners (2) registration of changes in partners (3) maintenance of books of account, other records and audit and (4) filing of annual return.

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