The Change and the Challenge

Updated on: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Institute of Company Secretaries Of India’s (ICSI’s) Eastern India’s Regional Council held its seventh regional conference of practising Company Secretaries with theme of “The Change and the Challenge” on July 17.

The conference started with the lighting of the inaugural lamp by the esteemed guests viz. Deputy Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Farzana Alam, Dr Subesh K Das, IAS, UC Nahata, Regional Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This was followed by the welcome address by Anjan K Roy, Vice Chairman ICSI-EIRC.

The conference was divided into two technical sessions: National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Limited Liability Partners (PPL). NCLT is a special court formed only to take up cases of company disputes and LLP is a special type of act where if any partner is doing business outside authority under LLP then the other partners wont be liable for the losses incurred.

Giving an introduction about the theme, with reference to NCLT and PPL, Mamta Binani, the chairperson of ICSI-EIRS said: “The clients need to know more about NCLT and LLP, as there is very less practical exposure of these two.” The first session started of with discussion on NCLT. Vinod Kothari, Practicing Company Secretary, took over the topic of winding up and sick companies. He started of with a humorous story and followed by saying: “The Supreme Court needs to make some amendments and the Govt. needs to show hurriedness in constituting NCLT”.

The second speaker R Shridharan, practicing CS in Chennai spoke about the mergers and other sections transferred from CLB to NCLT apart from the changes needed in NCLT. He opined that: “Liquidation will be completed within 2 years once NCLT is constituted”. He also spoke about the merger and amalgamation and the reduction of capital as two aspects of NCLT.

The post lunch session focuses mostly on the topic of LLP. Santosh Kumar, Registrar of LLP, Ministry of Corporate Affairs said that: “LLP is the hybrid version between company and partnership firm”. He explained the main features and benefits of LLP and answered to queries about LLP.

Speaking about the trend of LLP, Arun Gupta, Director, Corporate Professionals Capital said: “Drafting an LLP agreement is like drafting an LLP law”. He went on to explain the role of partners in LLP, the liabilities, audit process, brand protection, transfer of property etc. The last speaker of the day, TB Chatterjee, Sr Executive VP & CS, DIC India Ltd., spoke about the taxation aspects in LLP and said: “Once the profit of the firm is taxed then the remuneration of the partner is not taxed”.

The workshop adjourned with an open house and interactive session. During the day also, the tempo of the programme was kept up with periodic ‘Quiz Sessions’ for the participants. Overall, it was a conference extremely beneficial for the aspiring CS students as well as professionals.

The Change and the Challenge

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