ICSI announces UDIN Amnesty Scheme 2022; Window open upto 31st March, 2022

ICSI announces UDIN Amnesty Scheme 2022; Window open upto 31st March, 2022 The Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Council’) in its 261st (Special) Meeting held on 27th June, 2019 at New Delhi issued the ICSI Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) Guidelines, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the UDIN Guidelines’. It is applicable only to Practising Company Secretaries (hereinafter referred to as ‘PCS’). 2. The objectives of the UDIN Guidelines are to:-

(a) enable the stakeholders to verify the authenticity of various documents certified by Company Secretaries in Practice;

(b) prevent counterfeiting of various attestations /certifications;

(c) provide ease of maintaining the Register of Attestation / Certification services rendered by practicing members;

(d) ensure compliance of the Guidelines issued by the Institute w.r.t ceilings on the number of the various certification /attestation services that may be rendered by the practitioners;

(e) auto-prefill details of Certification / Attestation services rendered by practicing members in the form for renewal of Certificate of Practice.

3. The UDIN Guidelines were amended by the Council in its 263rd Meeting held on 23rd September, 2019 at New Delhi and have been further amended by the Council in its 269th (Adjourned) Meeting held on 13th July, 2020, and further amended by the Council in its 278th Meeting held on 26th July, 2021, and further amended by the Council in its 279th (Special) Meeting held on 31st August, 2021 4. A copy of the latest amended UDIN guidelines may be downloaded from the UDIN website (https://stimulate.icsi.edu/udin/) of the Institute. 5. Para 3 of the UDIN Guidelines provides the list of professional services in respect of which generation of UDIN is mandatory. Institute has received queries from the members on account of failure to generate the UDIN at the time of signing of Certificate / Report / Form / Other Documents or for inadvertently mentioning some wrong particulars due to typographical errors or otherwise. Similarly, few of the members could not revoke the UDIN generated but not utilized within 7 days of such generation. 6. As per Para 5(viii) of the UDIN Guidelines every PCS shall generate UDIN at the time of signing of Certificate / Report / Form / Other Documents or seven days in advance to the date of such signing as above. There is no provision to generate UDIN after the date of signing of the Certificate / Report / Form / Other Documents is over. This is the affirmation of the UDIN mechanism introduced by the ICSI. 7. Any non-compliance of the UDIN Guidelines makes the defaulting PCS liable for action under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 read with First Schedule and Second Schedule to the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 for such non-compliance, in accordance with para 8 of the UDIN Guidelines. 8. In terms of the first proviso to Para in Clause 5 of the amended UDIN Guidelines the PCS Committee of the Institute is authorised to frame standard operating procedures and modalities or any scheme due to any specific circumstances to condone the delay on such terms and conditions as it may deem fit and proper and in case of such condonation, the PCS shall not be liable for consequences of violation as mentioned in paragraph 8 of the UDIN Guidelines. 9. The Practicing Company Secretaries Committee of the Council of the Institute in its 98th meeting held on 26th February, 2022, considered various reasons such as technical issues, Covid-19, etc., leading to hampering of smooth functioning of the stakeholders and default in UDIN generation. With a view to comfort the stakeholders, the Committee is launching UDIN Amnesty Scheme-2022 wherein a PCS may:

i. Generate the UDINs missed earlier, ii. Rectify the UDIN details recorded at the time of generation, iii. Revoke the UDINs not used.

10. In case(s) where the UDIN has not been generated, it will be mandatory to generate the UDIN before filing the request under this Scheme. 11. The online request window will open on 16th March, 2022 and shall remain active upto 31st March, 2022. 12. All UDINs generated from 1st July, 2021 upto 31st March, 2022, shall be eligible for the purpose of this application. 13. A PCS may revoke or modify a UDIN only once. Separate online request(s) have to be made for more than one UDIN. 14. Only active UDIN are eligible for rectification under the UDIN Amnesty Scheme. UDIN once revoked shall not be reactivated. 15. The PCS applying under UDIN Amnesty Scheme - 2022 shall be granted immunity from the applicability of the provisions of para 8 of the UDIN Guidelines in respect of the UDINs for which request under this Amnesty Scheme has been made and disciplinary proceedings shall not be initiated or entertained in this respect. However, the immunity under this Scheme shall not be granted to members against whom any disciplinary proceeding for non-adherence to UDIN Guidelines is pending at any stage before the Disciplinary Directorate of ICSI. 16. The process of application is completely online and in straight through process mode at the UDIN website (https://stimulate.icsi.edu/udin/) or member may visit through any other designated website of the Institute. 17. Upon successfully submitting request an auto confirmation mail shall be sent to the PCS for record and future communication. 18. The modified details will henceforth be shown in the master data / Register of UDINs available after login on the UDIN website or through any other designated website. 19. No fees shall be charged for the purpose of this application. 20. It is a Scheme which has been introduced considering the various factors acting together in the recent times and does not in any way create a precedent for future. 21. On the conclusion of the Scheme, the Institute may initiate necessary disciplinary action under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 read with First Schedule and Second Schedule to the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 against the PCS who have not availed this Scheme and have failed to comply with the provisions of the UDIN Guidelines. 22. The details uploaded by the PCS under this Amnesty Scheme shall remain confidential and not be construed as “information” under the Right to Information Act, 2005. For Official PDF Download From Link Given Below: