Breaking: Parliament passes Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants, and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Text of the Bill Given Below:

1. (1) This Act may be called the Chartered Accountants, the Cost, and WorksAccountants, and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 2021.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and any reference in any provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.

2. In the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (hereafter in this Chapter referred to as the principal Act), in the long title and preamble, for the word “regulation”, the words “regulation and development” shall be substituted.

3. In section 2 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),––

(i) after clause (aaa), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:––

‘(ab) “Board of Discipline” means the Board of Discipline constituted under sub-section (1) of section 21A;’;

(ii) after clause (b), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:––

‘(ba) “Coordination Committee” means the Coordination Committee constituted under section 9A;

(bb) “Companies Act” means the Companies Act, 2013 or any other previous company law as defined in sub-section (67) of section 2 of the said Act;’;

(iii) in clause (c), after the words “Council of the Institute”, the words “constituted under section 9” shall be inserted;

(iv) after clause (ca), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:––

‘(cb) “Director (Discipline)” means the Director (Discipline) referred to in section 21 and includes Joint Director (Discipline);

(cc) “Disciplinary Committee” means the Disciplinary Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 21B;

(cd) “Disciplinary Directorate” means the Disciplinary Directorate established under sub-section (1) of section 21;

(ce) “fellow” means a fellow member of the Institute;’;

(v) in clause (ea), after the words “Official Gazette”, the words ‘and the term “notify” shall be construed accordingly’ shall be inserted;

(vi) for clause (g), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:––

‘(g) “Register” means the Register of members of the Institute maintained under section 19 or the Register of firms of the Institute maintained under section 20B, as the case may be;’;

(vii) after clause (haa), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:––

‘(haaa) “Standing Committee” means a Standing Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 17;’.

4. In section 4 of the principal Act,––

(i) for the word “Register”, wherever it occurs, the words “Register of members” shall be substituted;

(ii) in sub-section (1), in clauses (v) and (vi), for the words “without India”, wherever they occur, the words “outside India” shall be substituted;

(iii) in sub-section (3),––

(a) the words “, which shall not exceed rupees three thousand” shall be omitted;

(b) the proviso shall be omitted

5. In section 5 of the principal Act,––

(i) for the word “Register”, occurring at both places, the words “Register of members” shall be substituted;

(ii) in sub-section (3),––

(a) the words “which shall not exceed rupees five thousand” shall be omitted;

(b) the proviso shall be omitted.

6. In section 6 of the principal Act, for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—

“(2) Every such member shall pay an annual fee for the certificate as may be determined, by notification, by the Council, and such fee shall be payable on or before the 1st day of April each year.”.

7. In section 8 of the principal Act,––

(i) for the word “Register”, wherever it occurs, the words “Register of members” shall be substituted;

(ii) in clause (iii), after the words “undischarged insolvent”, the words “or an undischarged bankrupt” shall be inserted;

(iii) after clause (iii), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:––

“(iiia) is declared bankrupt under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016; or”;

(iv) in clause (v),––

(a) for the words “without India”, the words “outside India” shall be substituted;

(b) the words “transportation or” shall be omitted.

8. In section 9 of the principal Act,––

(i) in sub-section (2),––

(a) for the word “Register”, occurring at both places, the words “Register of members” shall be substituted;

(b) for the words “three years”, the words “four years” shall be substituted;

(c) for the words “six years”, the words “eight years” shall be substituted;

(ii) in sub-section (4),––

(a) for the word “person”, the words “member of the Institute or any partner of a firm” shall be substituted;

(b) for the words “three years”, the words “four years” shall be substituted.

9. After section 9 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—

“9A. (1) There shall be a Coordination Committee consisting of the President, Vice-President and the Secretary of the Council of each of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of India, the Cost Accountants of India, and the Company Secretaries of India for the development and harmonization of the professions of Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants, and Company Secretaries.

(2) The meeting of the Coordination Committee shall be chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

(3) The meeting of the Coordination Committee shall be held once every quarter of a year.

(4) The Committee shall be responsible for the effective coordination of the functions assigned to each Institute and shall––

(i) ensure quality improvement of the academics, infrastructure, research, and all related works of the Institute;

(ii) focus on the coordination and collaboration among the professions, to make the profession more effective and robust;

(iii) align the cross-disciplinary regulatory mechanisms for interprofessional development;

(iv) make recommendations in matters relating to regulatory policies for the professions;

(v) perform such other functions incidental to clauses (i) to (iv) above.”

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