STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: To advocate the need, concept and scope of Secretarial Standards amongst corporates, Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Northern India Regional Council (ICSI-NIRC) organised a national seminar here.
It was deliberated in the seminar that Section 118(10) of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates every company to observe secretarial standards with respect to General and Board Meetings specified by ICSI and approved as such by the Central Government. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has accorded its approval to the Secretarial Standards on Meetings of the Board of Directors (SS-1) and General Meetings (SS-2) specified by ICSI. The secretarial standards have been notified vide Notification ICSI No 1 (SS) of 2015 dated April 23, 2015 and published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part III Section 4. These will be effective from July 1, 2015.
A.K Chaturvedi, Regional Director (Northern Region), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India congratulated ICSI as pioneer and only institution to have issued Secretarial Standards in the world so far.
CS Pavan Kumar Vijay, former President, ICSI and Chairman, Secretarial Standards Board, ICSI provided the overview of Secretarial Standards and vision of Secretarial Standards Board.
Rajiv Bajaj, Council Member, ICSI said that the mandate of the Companies Act, 2013 with regard to the secretarial standards can be attributed to the fact that the standards have sufficiently evolved as these are being voluntarily followed by companies.
CS Atul H Mehta, President, ICSI while delivering the Presidential address said that the Secretarial Standards issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India will be effective from 1st July 2015.
P.K Malhotra, Law Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India delivered the valedictory address and said that the Company Secretaries play a vital role in implementing various provisions of the Act.
CS Vineet Chaudhary, Council Member, ICSI and Chairman of Corporate Laws and Governance Committee welcomed the guests. CS N.P.S Chawla, Chairman, NIRC of the ICSI introduced the dignitaries. CS Alka Kapoor, Joint Secretary, ICSI briefed the gathering on making of Secretarial Standards. CS Sutanu Sinha, Chief Executive and Officiating Secretary, ICSI delivered the vote of thanks.
Others who spoke on the occasion included CS Ahalada Rao, Council Member ICSI and Member, SSB and Practising Company Secretary, CS G.P Madaan, Member, SSB and Founder and CEO, Corporate Knowledge Foundation, CS Alok Kumar Kuchhal, Chairman, Noida Chapter of ICSI, CS Lalit Jain, Former Senior Vice President and Company Secretary, Jubiliant Life Sciences Ltd and Member SSB and Practising Company Secretary, CS Sanjay Grover, Past Council Member and Member SSB and Practising Company Secretary, CS N.K Jain, Corporate Advisor and Former Secretary and CEO, ICSI and CS Saurabh Kalia, Partner, Sastra Legal and Regional Council Member, NIRC of ICSI.
