The Lok Sabha has taken up the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for consideration and passing. The Bill seeks to amend the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959, and the Company Secretaries Act, 1980. The Bill  also 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.  An officer of the Institute, of the rank of Deputy Secretary, will function as the Secretary of the Board and the Board must conclude its inquiry within 90 days after receiving the preliminary examination report.

TMC member Prof Saugata Roy said that the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, of which he is a member.

The TMC MP talked about the recommendations of the committee that the government has not considered in the present version of the bill. Mr. Roy said that the Committee had said the autonomy of the ICAI, and the institutes for company secretaries and cost and works accounts should not be hampered. He said, Regulation is necessary but the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs have increased their stranglehold on these three independent professions through this Bill.

He said, the Bill aims at bringing discipline to these professions but the disciplinary authority will be headed by a non-Chartered Accountant and it would have more non-CA members than CA members.

DMK member A Raja accused the government of having hidden agenda in CA Amendment Bill.

Listing apprehensions to the Bill, Mr Raja said, what is surprising and shocking is, earlier the chairman of the ICAI disciplinary committee was supposed to be a chartered accounted, but now the chairman will be a non-chartered accountant.

M.K. Vishnu Prasad, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu says the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory and autonomous body, but it is still controlled by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, also adding that the Ministry does not provide funding to the institute.

Mr Prasad said that 10 years ago there was no government interference in the functioning of ICAI, then the law was amended to have two government nominees In the ICAI disciplinary committee which handles complaints and has three ICAI council members who are chartered accountants.
Discussion is underway.