Our Bureau The government may bring an Ordinance to implement changes in the Companies Act based on recommendations of a Committee under the Chairmanship of Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas to look into issues of corporate governance.

The recommendations include ways to curb shell companies, de-clog the National Company Law Tribunal and capping independent directors’ remuneration. An informal Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met here on Tuesday and discussed the suggestions.

The group includes Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State for Corporate Affairs PP Chaudhry.

The committee’s report touches upon issues such as declaration of commencement of business, maintenance of a registered office, protection of depositors’ interests, registration and management of charges, declaration of significant beneficial ownership, and independence of independent directors. A key recommendation relates to shell companies.

Tackling shell companies

There is no specific definition of a shell company under the Company Law. However, such companies are formed to launder money. Keeping this in mind, the committee has recommended re-introduction of declaration of commencement of business provision. Other recommendations related to corporate compliance and governance include imposition of a cap on independent directors’ remuneration in terms of percentage of income to prevent any material pecuniary relationship, which could impair his/her independence on the board, and holding of directorships beyond permissible limits to trigger disqualification of such directors.

It suggested a reduction in the time-limit for filing documents related to creation, modification and satisfaction of charges and stringent penal provisions for non-reporting. Once a company obtains restrictions under Section 90 (7) relating to significant beneficial ownership, in respect of shares whose ownership remains undetermined, such shares should be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund if the rightful owner does not claim ownership within a year, it said.

The committee undertook an analysis of all penal provisions, which were broken down into eight categories based on the nature of offences. It recommended that the existing rigour of the law should continue for serious offences covering six categories. Lapses that are technical or procedural in nature, which fall under two categories, may be shifted to an in-house adjudication process.

The report also makes recommendations for de-clogging the National Company Law Tribunal through a significant reduction in compounding cases before the Tribunal.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW