MCA:

MCA has amended the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014, which may be called the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Second Amendment Rules, 2014 and shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette. Apart from some removing some technical irregularities in Rule 3 & 4, the rules were amended to substitute the “consideration of financial statement including consolidated financial statement, if any, to be approved by the Board under sub-section (1) of section 134 of the Act” in place of “consideration of accounts”. Further in Rule 15, for Sub-Rule (3), read with first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 188, new conditions & criteria(s) have been substituted for obtaining prior approval of the company by a special resolution for related party transactions.

International Accounting Standards Board (IASB):

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published ‘Equity Method in Separate Financial Statements by making Amendments to International Accounting Standards (IAS) – 27. The amendments reinstate the equity method as an accounting option for investments in subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates in an entity’s separate financial statements. The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016, with earlier application being permitted.

MCA:

Versions of the forms CHG-9, INC-1, INC -7 & MR-1 are likely to change w.e.f tomorrow i.e 15th August, 2014. Only new version of these eForms will be acceptable, stakeholders are requested to plan accordingly and ensure that you have downloaded the latest version for filing and uploading the latest version only. Form-wise date of last version change is available at on the website of MCA, to view & download, the list of all such Forms, Click Here.

SEBI:

SEBI Board met in New Delhi for its Board Meeting and took the decisions relating to the SEBI (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014 thereby providing a framework for registration and regulation of Real Estate Investment Trusts, approved the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014 thereby providing a framework for registration and regulation of Infrastructure Investment Trusts and decision on Granting single registration to stock brokers / clearing members for operating in all stock exchanges / clearing corporations. To view & download the complete proceeding, please Click Here.

MCA:

MCA has come out with Amnesty Scheme (CLSS – 2014) and has provided one time opportunity to all the defaulting companies and its directors has been given under the said scheme. It covers all the companies who have failed to file their annual reports, financial statements and related documents (A/R, B/S & SCC) which are due for filing upto 30th June 2014. Now, these can be filed upto 15th Oct 2014 with only 25% of the additional fees. Further Immunity from prosecution will be provided to Company and its directors and Directors will not be disqualified u/s 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013. Copy of the Announcement is attached for your kind perusal & record.

MCA:

MCA has started a joint initiative with the help of three professional statutory bodies namely "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and The Institute of Cost Accountants of India" called as Independent Directors Repository. The repository is under the active encouragement of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. This repository has been developed to facilitate the individuals who are eligible and willing to act as Independent Directors and also to facilitate Companies to select the persons who are eligible and willing to act as Independent Directors under section 150 of the Companies Act, 2013 and Rules made there under.

CLSS SCHEME – 2014.pdf

MCA:

MCA has come out with a list of companies who have not filed Form 5INV in the previous year. MCA has started displaying the list of Companies who have not filed Form 5INV, ROC wise and Consolidated list for all companies across India. This will help the companies to know whether they are required to file the Form 5 INV or not. However, the list of defaulting companies has been uploaded by some of the ROC’s only and few ROC’s are yet to upload the said list on the MCA website.

MIINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS:

To simplify the process of Passport Application, Ministry has decided to discontinue the requirement of attested photocopies of original documents in all the cases. The applicants, therefore, may submit self attested documents of all the original documents at the time of submission of their passport applications. Under the self certification method, original documents are required to be produced at the time of verification / final processing. Earlier, the Passport Offices were asking of documents attested by Gazette Officers only.