Govt extends deadline for giving comments on Cos Act rules

Government today extended the deadline for giving comments on the third and fourth tranches of draft rules for the new Companies Act to November 10.

The new legislation, replaces the nearly six decade old legislation governing the corporates in the country.

The new Companies Act was approved by the Parliament in August this year. The previous deadline for providing comments expired yesterday.

According to an official statement today, "the last date for the public at large for giving suggestions/ comments to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs regarding the 3rd and 4th tranche of Draft Rules being framed under the Companies Act, 2013 has been extended to the 10th of this month".

The third and fourth set of draft rules released by the Corporate Affairs Ministry pertained to chapters on deposits, SFIO, National Financial Regulatory Authority (NFRA) and Investor Educations and Protection Fund (IEPF) Authority.

According to the new norms, NFRA will have powers to lay down the accounting and auditing policies and standards for adoption by companies or class of companies or their auditors.

Further, the new legislation would give more teeth to SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office) that is currently probing various high-profile cases.

The government has issued draft rules in four tranches on the new Companies Act. These tranches collectively received nearly 26,000 comments, as on November 1, 2013.