Rajya Sabha passed The Companies (Amendment) Bill 2014 by voice vote on Wednesday where Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister told that an expert committee will be examining to improve the companies act. Arun Jaitley addressed the members and told that the committee will look into this matter for few months and it will not be the last amendments to the bill.
Nearly 16 amendments have been made to the present Companies Act 2013, with regard to board resolutions, winding up of companies, bail provisions and utilising the unclaimed dividends.
Since there was complaints against the companies, Jaitley said that the amendments were needed to solve the problems which existed since the act came into existence from 2013. Jaitley said that provisions of Criminal Procedure Code will apply except with regard to any serious frauds under this Act. He further said that will include representatives of company secretaries and officials of industry chambers will look into the problems and give suggestions regarding the changes to be brought in it. Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed by Lok Sabha in last year December. Amended Companies Act 2013 have been designed to address the stakeholder’s issues that came into effect this year from April 1. Protection of confidentiality of board resolutions was the major concern of the stakeholder. Jaitley told that the provisions which scrutinies the board resolutions were not followed anywhere in the world and not practiced anywhere. This new law has scrapped the paid-up capital standards. There is an amendment to this act which prescribes specific punishment for deposits. Thus 16 amendments have been made to the present Companies Law. Jaitley further said that since there was provisions that made business very difficult in India because of these stringent laws and so changes were needed to it to bring in simple provisions which helped the people. Now the companies will need only 50% of the shareholder’s consent instead of 75% that was prescribed previously. This new act has faced a lot of criticisms from many people regarding the provisions. The present new government said that this amendment was necessary for ease of business in the country. This new provision should help in mitigating the hardship of the private companies.
by Sushma Javare.
