To encourage firms, govt moves to decriminalise Companies Act

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced that the government has decided to decriminalise certain offences and defaults committed under the Companies Act.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, she said the government has decided to altogether drop seven compoundable offences and five others will now be dealt with under an alternate framework.

The offences that are being decriminalised are those involving minor or technical shortcomings.

“Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults like shortcomings in CSR reporting, inadequacies in board report, filing defaults and delay in holding annual general meeting,” she said.

Besides this, under this move, a majority of the sections on compoundable offences will be shifted to the internal adjudication mechanism.

“The amendment will de-clog the criminal courts and National Company Law Tribunal,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The finance minister was addressing her last press conference to give details of the Rs 20 lakh crore Covid-19 relief package that was announced recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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