New Companies Bill will equate CS with CEO and CFO of Company

Mar 14, 2010

The new Companies Bill to be adopted by Parliament

would simplify the law and equate company secretary 

(CS) with the chief executive (CEO) and chief financial 

officer (CFO) of a company, said Vinayak S Khanvalkar,

president, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI),

here on Saturday. At least two out of the 10 secretarial standards

specified by ICSI would find place in the new legislation, he added.

Against the backdrop of the Satyam Computer Services
episode, Khanvalkar said ICSI had constituted a core
group to examine the aspect of corporate governance
and made 25 recommendations to the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs. According to him, the institute investigated the role
of the CS in the Satyam fraud case and found that “there was
nothing against him”. He said the same CS, G Jayaraman, was
continuing with the new management of Satyam.

ICSI would introduce two more Post Membership
Qualification (PMQ) courses in competition law and,
corporate insolvency and restructuring as a part of its
efforts for capacity building of company secretaries in new
and emerging areas, said Khanvalkar.

The courses, already approved by the institute’s council,
would be launched within a year, he added. ICSI has
already a PMQ course on corporate governance.

Apart from these two courses, he said, ICSI would
organise short-term courses and collaborative programme
to provide exposure to its members in diversified areas.

ICSI also conducted four training programmes for the
independent directors of Life Insurance Corporation
of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of India
(BoI). The institute would conduct more such programmes to
make independent directors aware of their liabilities and responsibilities, he said.

Khanvalkar said a core group of experts was
working on ICSI’s Vision 2020 plan. The institute’s
future plan includes strengthening of regional councils,
going in for foreign collaborations and attracting more
students into the CS professional fold.

ICSI past president Datla Hanumantha Raju said the
institute was setting up an education research centre in
Hyderabad over an area 1.26 acres. The project was
estimated to cost about Rs 5 crore. ICSI
also constituted a student welfare fund for which the institute’s
annual contribution was Rs 25 lakh.
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