ICSI Seeks Relief Amid Portal Disruptions Following Fire Incident at MCA’s Data Centre Site

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has written a representation to Ms Deepti Gaur Mukerjee, Honourable Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India, drawing her attention to the recent fire incidence at the MCA’s Data Centre Site, due to which several stakeholders are facing practical difficulties on the MCA portal.

In the representation, the ICSI president flagged the fact that, as disclosed by the ministry, the MCA had switched its operations to the Disaster Recovery (DR) site as a precautionary measure after the incident. However, there are still certain critical functions of the MCA portal that continue to face disruptions, which is ultimately affecting professionals and companies. They are facing difficulties in carrying out routine statutory and compliance-related activities.

The key issues faced by professionals and companies due to the recent fire incidence at MCA’s Data Centre Site include the following:

• Frequent account lockouts
• Problems in resetting passwords
• Inability to resubmit forms within prescribed timelines
• Delays in company incorporation processes, and
• Non-functionality of form-saving and downloading features.

These issues have altogether resulted in loss of work, duplication of efforts, and delays in regulatory filings.

Considering the aforementioned challenges, the ICSI has requested the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to extend the validity of name reservations granted under RUN/SPICe until the portal issues are not completely resolved and also sought relief for forms pending resubmission due to technical glitches and urged suitable extensions for statutory filing and resubmission deadlines.

Further, the institute has urged the Ministry to issue a clarification ensuring that stakeholders are not penalised for non-compliance under the Companies Act, 2013, when such non-compliance arises solely because of technical issues on the MCA portal.

The institute has requested the ministry to take urgent cognisance of the matter and provide necessary relaxations to ease the difficulties faced by stakeholders.