The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has extended the last date for filing the Annual Forms for 2014-15 without additional fees from 30.11.2015 to 30.12.2015.

The copy of the said Circular can be downloaded from http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/General_Circular_No_15_2015.pdf

Providing info on sexual harassment panel to be made mandatory

NEW DELHI: Government has set off the process of making it mandatory for private companies to inform about constitution of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) on sexual harassment in their annual disclosures made under the Companies Act after they did not show requisite interest in the matter.

The Women and Child Development Ministry has written to Corporate Affairs Ministry asking it to notify constitution of ICC as a mandatory disclosure under Section 134 of the Companies Act, 2013.

"In order to ensure that private sector companies also constitute ICC as mandated under Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, it will be appropriate to ask the companies to disclose the constitution of the IIC in their Annual Disclosures filed under the provision of Section 134 of the Companies Act 2013," the letter said.

Union Minister  Maneka Gandhi  had asked leading business chambers including FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII to submit compliance report as most of the private companies in the country do not have internal committees to address sexual harassment cases.

"While adequate protection is available in government structures to women, it is important that women in the private sector are also given the same level of protection. We had taken up this matter with Chambers of business but we have not been able to cut much ice with them," it said.

Section 134 of the Act enables the Central government to mandate any non-financial disclosure to be made in the Directors' Report of a company.

"Since companies did not show much interest on the matter, we have decided to make it mandatory for them under the Companies Act, 2013. We have written to Corporate Affairs Ministry to notify the rule," a senior official told PTI. As the nodal ministry for implementation of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, we noticed that various categories of organisations have not even constituted the ICC as required under the Act, the official said.

"There has been an increase in the number of cases of sexual harassment at workplace being brought up by women employees in different organizations," the official said.

The anti-sexual harassment law provides for a penalty of Rs 50,000 on employers who fail to implement its various provisions.

ICSI issues videos on "Primer on Companies Act 2013"

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, here today launched the ‘ICSI Primer on Companies Act 2013’ on its Foundation Day. These ‘Primers’ are a set of 16 videos of around 35 minutes each highlighting various aspects of the new Companies Act 2013. These videos have been uploaded on the website of the ICSI and also on YouTube so that the professionals and the common people, all, can access them freely and learn about some important aspects of the new Company Law that was enacted recently. These videos endeavor to explain the fundamental provisions of law in as simple a language as possible through interactive discussions. Distinguished experts from government, regulators, industry, academia and professionals have participated as panelists and a leading advocate is the anchor in all episodes. 

MCA issues Notification for Commencement of 98 Sections of the New Act

Ministry of Corporate Affairs issues Notification for Commencement of 98 Sections of the New Act

The Companies Act, 2013 as passed by the Parliament and assented to by the President of India is available on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ website at www.mca.gov.in. The Ministry has initiated the process to implement the new Act in consultation with concerned regulatory authorities, Ministry of Law & Justice and other stakeholders. The first set of draft rules has also been placed on the Ministry’s website on 9th September, 2013. The relevant Forms under such rules and remaining draft rules/forms are also being released for public comments shortly.  It has therefore been decided to enforce the provisions of the new legislation in phases. The provisions of the new Act which require statutory/regulatory consultation or functioning of new bodies or prescription of relevant rules/forms will be brought in force after the preparatory action is completed. In the first instance it has been decided to notify those provisions of the Act which do not require such preparations. Accordingly, a notification for commencement of 98 sections of the new Act has been issued by the Ministry today i.e. 12th September, 2013. The details of provisions brought in effect are available on the web-site of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs or by clicking the following link. http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/CommencementNotificationOfCA2013.pdf The Gazette Notification of the Companies Act, 2013 can be downloaded by clicking the following link http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2013/E_27_2013_425.pdf

Rajya Sabha passes Companies Bill

The Rajya Sabha today passed the Companies Bill.

The Bill was already passed by Lok Sabha in December last year and now only President's nod required to make it a law. 

MCA has extended the date for filing Forms 23AC & 23ACA for Non-XBRL Companies for the year commencing on or after 1st April, 2011 from 15.09.2012 to 15.10.2012 without any additional fees or penalty as the new forms after revised Sch VI has not been notified by MCA yet. The Circular in this regard can be downloaded from the link below:

http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/General_Circular_28_2012.pdf

Imposing Fees on Certain E-Forms Filed with ROC, RD OR MCA(HQ) under MCA-21 Where at Present No Fee is Prescribed

The Ministry of  Corporate Affairs has decided to impose a certain amount of fee on the following forms at the rates indicated in table below:-

S.No.	Form No.	Particulars of the Form	Fee Applicable
1	Form 1 of Investor Education & Protection Fund Rule	Statement of amounts credited to Investor Education and Protection Fund	As per Schedule X to the Act.
2	Form 23B	Information by statutory auditor to the Registrar of companies Act, 1956 pursuant to section 224(1)(a) of the Companies Act, 1956	As per Schedule X to the Act.
3	Form 24A	Information by statutory auditor to the Registrar of companies Act, 1956 pursuant to section 224(1)(a) of the Companies Act, 1956.	As per Companies (Fee onApplication) Rules,1999
4	Form 36	Receiver’s or manager’s abstract of receipts and payments (charge related form)	As per Schedule X to the Act.
5	Form 61	Application to RoC-(a) Compounding of Offences u/s 621A (b) Application for extension of Annual General Meeting upto 3 months u/s 166 of the Act (c) Application for extension of time for preparation of Annual Accounts upto 18 months u/s 220 of the Act. (d) Others	a)As per Companies (Fee onApplication) Rules, 1999(b) -Do- (c) -Do- (d) -Do-
6	Form 62	Form for submission of misc.documents under the below mentioned rules: (a) Form 154 of the companies (Court) Rules, 1959 (b) Form 157 of the companies (Court) Rules, 1959 (c) Form 158 of the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959	As per Schedule X tothe Act.
7	Form 65	Application to the Central Govt (HQ)-(a)Application pursuant to rule 2 of the Companies (Application for Extension of Time or Exemption under Subsection (8) of Section 58A) Rules, 1979. (b) Information and explanation on reservations and qualification contained in the cost audit report by a company	(a) as per Companies(Fee onApplication) Rules, 1999 (b) Nil (c) as per Companies (Fee on Application) Rules, 1999

This fee is effective from July 22, 2012. Prior to it  no fee was levied for forms.