Parliament passes Chartered Accountants, Cost and Works Accountants and Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill

The Parliament has passed the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2022 with the Rajya Sabha approving it on Tuesday. The Lok Sabha has already passed the Bill.

The Bill proposes to strengthen the disciplinary mechanism under these Acts and provide for time bound disposal of cases against members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. The legislation also adds that firms must register with the Institutes by making an application to the respective Councils of the Institutes.

The Councils must maintain a register of firms containing details such as pendency of any actionable complaint or imposition of penalty against the firms. The Bill also empowers the three Councils to constitute multiple Boards and the Presiding Officer and one of the two members must not be a member of the institutes and will be nominated by the central government from a panel of persons provided by the Councils.

Initiating the discussion, Dr. L. Hanumanthaiah of Congress alleged that the government is trying to control the autonomy of these institutes. Mausam Noor of Trinamool Congress raised objections over the several provisions of the bill saying that absence of clearly defined parameters coupled with government presence within the Institutes would set dangerous precedents for obscure and intrusive functioning.

Replying to the discussion over the Bill, Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the bill will bring the required level of accountability and greater transparency. Over the opposition allegations, she asserted that there is no proposal or intention to infringe upon the autonomy of these three institutions. Dispelling the doubts of opposition, Sitharaman said, three acts are going to continue and they will govern the functioning of three institutes.

Meanwhile, Dr. M. Thambidurai of AIADMK supported the Bill saying that the Chartered Accountant bodies need to be regulated to attract private investment in the country. Suresh Prabhu of BJP termed this legislation very important for the economic growth of the country. He said there is a need to make provision for withdrawal of complaints against the professionals. Sujeet Kumar of BJD said this bill will improve the administrative and governance mechanism and also help in ease of doing business.

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