Our Corporate Bureau

New Delhi, April 16: Law, justice and company affairs minister Arun Jaitley on Monday released the Guidance note on compliance certificate, a book published by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), which he said should be the blue book for Indian corporates.

The compliance note under sub-section (1) of section 383 A of the Companies Act 1956 inserted by the Companies (Amendment) Act 2000 makes it obligatory for every company not required to employ a whole-time secretary and having a paid-up share capital of Rs 10 lakh or more to file with the Registrar of Companies a certificate from a secretary in whole-time practice as to the compliance of the provisions of the Companies Act 1956 and also attach a copy of that certificate with the director’s report. Mr Jaitley said the book, besides providing guidance on the Companies (compliance certificate) Rule, 2001 includes a detailed check list for verifying the compliance of each of the 33 paragraphs of the prescribed form. A specimen of the compliance certificate has also been included to help company secretaries in practice in issuing compliance certificate.

The minister further said that the compliance certificate would not only act as an effective mechanism to ensure that the legal and procedural requirements under the Companies Act are duly complied with but also instill professional discipline in the working of the company besides building the necessary confidence in the state of affairs of the company.

Mr Jaitley expressed the hope that the guidance note would greatly facilitate company secretaries in practice to perform their onerous responsibility of issuing companies certificate with utmost confidence.

He called upon companies secretaries to observe highest standards of professional ethics and advise, assist and guide the managements of companies in complying with the provisions of the Companies Act while undertaking the work of issuing compliance certificate.