'Companies Bill with House panel, to be cleared in a month'

The Companies Bill, 2011, has been referred to parliamentary standing committee on finance, corporate affairs minister Veerappa Moily said on Wednesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on corporate social responsibility here, Moily said standing committee chairman Yashwant Sinha has promised to scrutinise the Bill and send it back to the government in a month.

This has cleared the air on the future of the Bill, as the government had taken a last-minute decision to not move it for parliamentary approval during the winter session.

The Bill, which aims at a comprehensive overhaul of the Companies Act, 1956, seeks enhanced accountability on the part of the companies and introduces provisions for e-governance, corporate social responsibility and added investor protection measures.

The earlier version —Companies Bill, 2009 — had gone through the parliamentary panel’s scrutiny.

Over 200 revisions suggested by the committee in its August 2010 report were incorporated in the revised Bill.

The decision to send it again to the parliamentary committee was taken after some legislators asked for a review, considering the exhaustive nature of the changes that took place after the panel submitted its report.

“I am hopeful the Bill would be ready to be passed in the Budget session,” Moily said.

The new Bill introduces the concept of independent directors and prescribes their tenure, code of conduct and liability. It also mandates appointment of women directors.

Audit accountability through rotation of auditors and audit firms and renaming the National Advisory Committee on Accounting and Audit Standards as the National Financial Reporting Authority, with added quasi-judicial powers to ensure independent oversight over professionals, are among the proposals.