The much awaited Companies Bill, 2011 is expected to be referred to the Standing Committee after the BJP raised an objection against it in Parliament on Thursday.
“The official order has not gone yet but is expected to happen soon,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
However, it is expected that it would be a very limited review and not a full-fledged one, the official said.
The Standing Committee is likely to take it up on January 6 and the final Bill is now expected to be taken up in the Budget session.
Within the din that arrested Parliament on the issue of the Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party protested that the Government had consulted ‘other' stakeholders after the Standing Committee gave its recommendations on the 2009 Bill and hence, it should be again presented to the Committee headed by the former Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, for scrutiny.
Whatever the issues, they could have been discussed by the Parliamentarians without it being sent to the Standing Committee, said Mr Pavan Kumar Vijay, Managing Director of Delhi-based consultancy Corporate Professionals.
“The Companies Bill is becoming a joke now. Of the 170 recommendations made by the Committee, 162 have been accepted.
The Committee, in its report, had said that other futuristic provisions could be added, then what is the problem now? Is it even a priority?” he asked.
Mr Sidharth Birla, Chairman of the Corporate Law Committee, FICCI, said, “We are anxious, any delay is a little disappointing, but sending it to the Committee is the prerogative of Parliament and I am optimistic that it will come through.”
The MCA official said, “Anyway there is no time now, with the Lokpal taking all of Parliament's time, it will come only in the Budget session.”