The company secretaries’ institute has welcomed the passage of the Companies Bill 2012 by Parliament on Thursday. The new law transits company secretaries to corporate governance professionals, bracketing them in the category of key managerial personnel.
It will also hold them responsible for implementation of all relevant laws applicable to companies, S. N. Ananthasubramanian, President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, told Business Line. The new law envisages a much larger role for company secretaries in the areas of secretarial audit, restructuring, liquidation, valuation and much more, he added.
The earlier criticism was that the law makers did not show enough enthusiasm in getting the Companies Bill, originally introduced in 2011 in the Lok Sabha, passed.
Along with the professional honour comes more responsibility for company secretaries. They will now be considered as an officer in default if something goes wrong with a company, say corporate observers. Punishment in such situations will include penalty and imprisonment, it was pointed out.
Tie-up
Ananthasubramanian said ICSI would soon tie up with the Insurance Institute of India, Mumbai to enable professional influence in risk management and compliance function. The Institute has already initiated programmes with the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance to further deepen the engagement of company secretaries in banking compliance, he added.