Appointment of company secretaries mandatory for strenthening governance framework

New Delhi: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had introduced e-form INC-22A (ACTIVE) for taking into account the active companies and their registered offices. Furthermore, the form had mandated filling of the details of Company Secretary for companies mandated to appoint the same thereat. India is perhaps the only country where a form like INC-22A (Active), to be filed by every company incorporated on or before the 31st December, 2017, is introduced capturing such details like the Latitude and Longitude of the Registered Office, directors, KMPs and auditors, etc. It is evident that the MCA is hoping to achieve significantly high level of governance norms.

However, the monitoring of appointment of Company Secretary is an attempt to further strengthen the existing governance framework in the Indian corporate scenario. This mandate of Government has recently raised various contentions regarding the shortfall in the number of CS professionals as against the number of companies eligible and mandated under the Act to make appointments and even further of Company Secretaries demanding high salaries in the wake of such shortage.

Being the parent organisation of Company Secretaries, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India intends to clarify that there is no shortage of Company Secretaries who shall be willing to serve the corporates and support in their compliances. Further so, the Institute has a dedicated Placement Cell in place for the purpose of coordinate between corporates intending to appoint Company Secretaries and the professionals seeking employment.