Report of the Committee to Review Offences under the Companies Act, 2013
Decriminalizing technical non-compliances under company law
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs constituted a Committee in July 2018 to consider decimalization of certain offences under the Companies Act, 2013.
The Committee analysed the provisions relating to offences under the Act and categorized them into different heads. Based on this categorization, it recommended that the existing rigor of the law should continue for serious offences, whereas lapses that are technical or procedural in nature may be brought within the ambit of a simple adjudication process. The Committee’s recommendations were targeted at improving compliance standards and reducing the case burden of the adjudicating forums for facilitating speedy disposal of cases involving serious offences.
The Committee also made various other suggestions to de-clog the National Company Law Tribunals and improve corporate governance.
The Committee’s report was released in August 2018. Many of its recommendations were included in the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, which was passed by the Parliament in July 2019.
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About the Contributors
Shreya is a Senior Resident Fellow and Lead, Law, Finance and Development. Her areas of interest are company law, insolvency law, corporate governance and responsible business conduct, fintech and financial inclusion. At Vidhi, she has worked on a diverse range of projects including research and drafting of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and consequent amendments and subordinate legislation, review of offences under the Companies Act, 2013 and drafting of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. Shreya completed her B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law University, Jodhpur in 2012 and her LLM from the Queen Mary University of London on a Chevening Scholarship in 2019, where her dissertation focused on peer-to-peer lending. She also worked as a Legal Consultant in the Financial Law Unit of the Legal Transition Team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London in 2019. Prior to joining Vidhi, she worked as an associate at Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, Delhi in the mergers & acquisition and real estate team.
Vedika is Senior Resident Fellow and leads Vidhi’s work in the field of Competition Law. She has also led projects commissioned by various ministries in diverse areas including domestic and cross-border insolvency and company law for the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation team at Vidhi. Vedika has been invited to speak at various national and international conferences in her field of work and regularly contributes to leading financial dailies such as The Economic Times, Business Standard and The Hindu BusinessLine. She has also been selected for the prestigious Chevening Financial Services Fellowship by the Foreign Commonwealth Office, UK and Kings College London. Prior to joining Vidhi, Vedika worked in the Chambers of Mr. Dayan Krishnan, Senior Advocate. She has also worked as the Khaitan & Co. Research Fellow for M&A at Gujarat National Law University and as an associate in the Capital Markets team at Amarchand Mangaldas, Mumbai. Vedika completed her B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Gujarat National Law University in 2011 and an MCL from University of Cambridge in 2014 where she was ranked 2nd in her cohort.
Aishwarya is a Senior Resident Fellow working in the area of Corporate Law and Financial Regulation. At Vidhi, she has primarily worked on engaged/commissioned projects from various ministries, statutory authorities and regulators, where she provides legal research and drafting support at various stages of law-making. Aishwarya works on a variety of legal and regulatory matters and allied issues in public policy, chiefly related to insolvency laws, competition laws and corporate governance laws. Aishwarya graduated with a B.A. LL.B (Hons.) from Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) in 2017. During her time there she worked on two human rights reports and attended specialised courses in Advanced Corporate Law and Competition Law. She has also interned under Senior Advocate Ramji Srinivasan, in Avantha Holdings Ltd. and in leading law firms.
Param was a Research Fellow at Vidhi.
