The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had allowed late applications for the Companies Fresh Start Scheme (CFSS) on every respective case basis but had ruled out a blanket extension of the Companies Fresh Start Scheme in spite of objections outside the Registrar of Companies (RoC) offices throughout the nation looking for an extension, as stated by the government official.
The Government of India had notified the Scheme for condonation of delay for firms restored on Registrar of Companies (RoC) between 1st December 2020 and 31st December 2020 according to section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013.
The government had also received the requests demanding relief as some firms had favored appeals according to section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013. against the orders of striking off the names of the firms before the particular Benches of the National Company Law Tribunals as well as the orders by NCLT Benches were issued during December 2020.
Considering this, such firms shall not avail the benefit of filing under CFSS-2020 by 31st December 2020 and are responsible to be charged added fees upon the filing of late e-forms.
The MCA in the circular stated that the matter was examined and it has been settled that the firms might be provided the benefit of waiver of extra fees with regard to late filings to be made by them pursuant towards the NCLT Order according to section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013, without any immunity from civil or criminal trials, etc.
The Central Government while exercising its powers under section 460 along with section 403 of the Companies Act, 2013 had decided towards introducing the Scheme viz., “Scheme for condonation of delay for companies restored on the Register of Companies between 01st December 2020 and 31st December 2020, as per section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013” for the purpose of condoning the delaying in filing forms with the Registrar, in so far as it relates towards charging of added fees owing to delay in such filings.
The Scheme would be applicable with regard to companies towards whom the appeal filed as per section 252 of the Act with the particular NCLT Bench for the restoration of the name of the firm has been disposed of between 1st December 2020 to 31st December 2020, with an order for restoration of the firm. The last date for filing of any late e-forms by such firms under the scheme would be 31st March 2021. The Scheme would be applicable with regard to the filing of all e-forms excluding where any increase in authorized capital is involved (e-Form SH-7) as well as any charge related documents (e-forms CHG-1, CHG-4, CHG-8, and CHG-9) which are needed towards being filed with the Registrar.
Every firm is required to pay normal filing charges under the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014 on the date of filing and no extra charges shall be paid for the forms for which the scheme is applicable.
Conclusion
In order to improve corporate compliance, the ministry had introduced the CFSS and also amended the LLP Settlement Scheme in March last year, permitting companies a one-time condonation for delays relating to statutory filings.
The scheme has been extended twice, till 31st December 2020, in respect of complications confronted by companies owing to the pandemic and lockdown.
The scheme had got 1.68 million applications, in which nearly 473,000 firms and 160,000 limited liability partnership companies had availed the benefits, which comprised closely 50% of active firms. While specialists were asking for one more extension of the scheme which was original would have been expired in September last year, the official stated that the amnesty scheme shall lose its purpose if a blanket extension shall be granted to all companies.
Some firms got struck off and had applied towards the National Company Law Tribunal for restoration, the sanction for which came in December, after which they applied to the RoC for the revival of the companies. Only for such a limited number of companies which might be totaling in the few thousands, the Ministry decided to condone the delay in filing for the CFSS and the LLP Settlement Scheme.
The ministry also found merit in some representations it had received from stakeholders but came to a point that the pandemic was not a rational excuse for delays in filings that must have been completed by December 2019 and earlier.
In addition to condoning delayed filing necessities under the Companies Act, 2013 and LLP Act, 2008, the two schemes pointedly reduced the related financial loads of late fees.
The LLP Settlement Scheme is particularly intended at firms whose paid-up capital is Rs 1 lakh but the collected late fees had reached Rs 5 lakh or above, making the compliance high-priced.
Get a free consultation for any types of business registrations with Our Top Rated Experts with simple Registration.
Author:
Leave a Comment
Previous Comments