ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAYMENT OF GRATUITY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2018

Parliament passes the much awaited Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018 few days back. On Thursday, the Upper House of Parliament i.e., Rajya Sabha passed The Payment of Gratuity Bill 2017 which was introduced by Minister of Labour and Employment on December 18, 2017. It will become law after the signature of our respectable president.

BACKGROUND:

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 was enacted to provide for a scheme for the payment of gratuity to employees engaged in factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other establishments who have rendered a minimum five years of continuous service with the establishment employing ten or more persons.

The calculation of gratuity amount is based on a formula, which is fifteen days of wages for each year of completed service, subject to a ceiling. The present ceiling, as provided under section 4 of the Act is rupees 10 Lakhs which was fixed in the year 2010.

The period of 12 weeks of maximum maternity leave presently provided in section 2A of the Act for the purpose of calculating continuous service under the Act is on the basis of period of maximum maternity leave as provided in the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.

The maximum maternity leave under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 has been enhanced from twelve weeks to twenty-six weeks by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017. It is therefore proposed to empower the Central Government to enhance the period of existing twelve weeks to such period as may be notified by it.

The provisions contained in the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 for Central Government employees with regard to gratuity are similar to the provisions contained in the Act. After implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling of gratuity for Central Government employees has been enhanced from rupees 10 Lakhs to rupees 20 Lakhs. In the past, the ceiling amount of gratuity under the Act has followed the Central Pay Commission recommendations.

Therefore, considering the inflation and wage increase even in case of employees engaged in private and public sector, the entitlement of gratuity is also required to be revised for employees who are covered under the Act. It has also been proposed to empower the Central Government to notify the ceiling proposed, instead of amending the said Act, so that the limit can be revised from time to time keeping in view the increase in wage and inflation, and future Pay Commissions.

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017, inter alia, proposes to amend—

(a) section 2A of the Act so as to empower the Central Government to notify the period of maternity leave in case of female employee as deemed to be in continuous service in place of existing twelve weeks;

(b) section 4 of the Act to substitute the words "ten lakh rupees" with the words "such amount as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time".

  

FOLLOWING ARE THE AMENDMENTS PASSED THROUGH THIS BILL

The bill was passed to bring private sector employees at par with their public sector counterparts as far as gratuity ceiling is concerned. In short following amendments were passed by the Govt.

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill will increase the ceiling of tax-free gratuity amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Further, this will allow the government to increase the gratuity ceiling from time to time without amending the law. After the implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling gratuity for Central Government employees has been enhanced from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. Seeking to amend the current provision (Section 4) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the bill empowers the government to notify the ceiling proposed instead of amending the Act. This amendment was sought so that the limit can be revised from time to time with the increase in wage and inflation and future pay commissions.

Further, another change which is introduced is that the period of maternity leave prescribed as 12 weeks in Section 2A has been amended as 26 weeks to keep the Act in tune with the recently amended Maternity Benefit Act.

CONCLUSION:

It must be considered as a good step for female as well as male employees working in private organisations. Now the government need not to introduce a separate bill for any aforesaid amendments. Women will get more leaves. Hope the above amendments are understandable and will help all of you.

SOURCE:

PIB

Prsindia

Economictimes

Livelaw

Indianexpress

Ndtv

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Contact for any consultancy, advisory on labour laws, for pf withdrawal and other matters 8510058386 or Praveen@csrasu.com

 

Finally, e-form under CODS is available for filing purposes on MCA

Dear Learned members,

GOOD NEWS!

Please be informed that e-form under CODS, 2018 scheme is now available for filing purposes.

It can be downloaded from the MCA website using below link:

http://mca.gov.in/MinistryV2/companyformsdownload.html

#CondonationofDelaySchemeCODS2018

KEY POINTS TO BE KEPT IN MIND WHILE FILING PETITION/APPLICATION UNDER SECTION 252(1) OR SECTION 252 (3) OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 BEFORE THE NCLT COURT

INTRODUCTION

As we all knows that Central Government notified NCLT Rules, 2016 on 21^st of July, 2016 through notification in the official gazette. The provisions specify the professionals i.e., Company Secretaries, Chartered Accountants and Advocates who can practice before the NCLT or NCLAT. As we the Company Secretaries are new to this field, most of us find it difficult to file application or petition for revival of company[1] or any other document or appear before the NCLT as we are not much aware of the procedural aspects of the court. 

Apart from general, an attempt has been made to understand the procedural aspects of filing petition/application before the NCLT. With the experience of NCLT court and after having discussion with the seniors and other members of NCLT court number of times, we, Rasu & Associates having our office at Gurgaon and practising Delhi NCR have enumerated the key points to be kept in mind while going for revival of company before NCLT court.

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

(a). “Applicant” means a petitioner or an appellant or any other person or entity capable of making an application including an interlocutory application or a petition or an appeal under the Act;

(b). “filer” means an authorised representative of that person or any party to the proceedings who files any document with the Tribunal in relation to a case filed under the Act, or any rules thereunder;

(c). “Petition” means a petition or an application or an appeal or a complaint in pursuance of which any proceeding is commenced before the Tribunal;

(d). “Pleadings” means and includes application including interlocutory application, petition, appeal, revision, reply, rejoinder, statement, counter claim, additional statement supplementing the original application and reply statement under these rules and as may be permitted by the Tribunal;

(e). “Reference" means a reference within the meaning of rule 88 of these rules;

SITTING HOURS OF NCLT

The Court remains open on all working day from 9.30 A.M. to 6.00 P.M except on Saturdays, Sundays and other national holidays. However, it is just a myth and the bench may stand up before timings as stated above and may sit after 6 P.M. also. Filing Counter of the Registry remains open on all working days from 10.30 AM to 5.00 P.M. It is on the first floor of the building.

INSTITUTION OF PROCEEDINGS, PETITION, APPEALS ETC- SOME IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS

• The petition or appeal or application to be filed before the NCLT shall be in English and in case it is in any other language it shall be accompanied with a copy in English;
• It shall be on the legal pages, written fairly and should be in legible form;
• It shall be lithographed or printed in double spacing on one side of standard petition paper;
• The inner margin shall be about 4 cm, width on top and with a right margin of 2.5. cm, and left margin of 5 cm, duly paginated, indexed and stitched together in paper book form;
• An Appeal or petition or application shall be divided into paragraphs and shall be numbered consecutively and each paragraph shall contain as nearly as may be, a separate fact or allegation or point;
• In case fresh parties are brought in, they may be numbered consecutively in the particular category, in which they are brought in;
• Every proceeding shall state immediately after the cause title the provision of law under which it is preferred;
• As per the latest filing done by us now 3 (Three) sets of appeal/petition under Section 252 are to be filed before the NCLT and not 2 (Two), please keep this in mind. Apart from that 1 (One) set is to be filed with the RoC that means 5 (Five) sets are to be made 3 for NCLT, 1 for RoC and 1 for your record. The same is also provided under Rule 23 of the NCLT Rules, 2016;
• All documents accompanied with the appeal or petition shall be certified. True copy stamped on all Annexures;
• At the foot of every petition or appeal or pleading there shall appear the name and signature of the authorised representative;
• Once the petition or application is admitted before the NCLT, the court notifies to the parties the date and place of hearing, generally a very short date is provided by the court so keep your eyes on the daily cause list;
• The Registry shall send a certified copy of final order passed to the parties concerned free of cost, it is to be noted that the order also published over the portal of NCLT and the certified copies may be made available with cost as per Schedule of fees, in all other cases;
• Appeal or application shall be filed with a statutory fee of 1000/-. Generally it has been seen that as we the Company Secretaries are new to this field are filing the application/petition accompanied with a fees of 2500/-.

NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO BE ACCOMPANIED WITH THE APPEAL/PETITION UNDER SECTION 252 OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013:

1. Index of the appeal or petition;
2. Notice of admission;
3. Brief synopsis;
4. Important dates and Events;
5. Petition or application stating the grounds;
6. Every petition/application shall be verified by an affidavit in Form No. NCLT 6 and it shall be notarised on a stamp paper of 10 rupees;
7. The authorised representative i.e., Company Secretary, Chartered Accountant or Advocate shall make an appearance through the filing of Vakalatnama or Memorandum of Appearance in Form No. NCLT 12 representing the respective parties to the proceedings, it shall be notarised on a stamp paper of 20/- rupees;
8. Certified true copy of Extract of resolution in favour of the Authorised Signatory/Authorised Representative;
9. Power of Attorney is must as suggested by the registry for us, it should be notarised on a stamp paper of 50/- rupees;
10. Master data of the company procured form MCA portal;
11. Audited financials of the company filing the application/petition for defaulted period;
12. Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum and Article of Association of the company;
13. Notices of RoC issued to concerned company;
14. Demand draft of statutory fees;
15. Any other documents like ITR, VAT, GST return, bank statement or other documents which can prove that company was operational.

These are some of the suggestions which seems very little however, very important. Hope above article will be helpful for all professionals handling court matters or are in employment.

 Praveen Singh

(Associate)

RASU & Associates

0124 - 420 2000

Author can be reached at praveen@csrasu.com. Praveen Singh is associated with RASU & Associate. He is having rich experience in Indirect taxation, corporate, commercial and IPR, labour law and other matters.

RASU & Associate is a firm of Company Secretaries, Advocates and Chartered Accountants. The core areas of the firm’s practice are inter alia Indirect Taxation, Corporate, Commercial & Transactions, Regulatory & Compliance, and Intellectual Property Rights Laws etc. We provide both Advisory as well as Litigation Services in all the above areas. Our brief profile can be seen at the following Internet address www.rasu-cs.com.

Disclaimer: This article includes the NCLT Rules and personal experience. Procedure may change any time, hence you are advice to consult before going NCLT. No advice shall be made to anyone solely on the basis of present article and in no case the author or our firm i.e., Rasu & Associates shall be liable.

Source:

(a). NCLT Rules, 2016

(b). Discussion from members of NCLT, advocates and other senior members;

(c). Our personal experience

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[1] We have restricted this article to only filing of application or petition for revival of company.

Highlights of the Budget changes under Indirect Taxation

As we all are aware that the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jetali has presented the general Budget 2018-19 in Parliament on 1st February, 2018. We have privilege to share a Budget Snap-shot containing the changes proposed in the Indirect Taxation which can be downloaded by

clicking here>>

ZERO FEES FOR INCORPORATING A NEW COMPANY WITH AUTHORISED CAPITAL UPTO 10 LAKHS- A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF NOTIFICATIONS ISSUED BY MCA

ACCHE DIN starts for small companies, as with a view to improve India’s position in the world ranking for “Doing Business” and on the occasion of the 69th Republic Day, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has again come up with a new and big initiatives.

MCA has launched the Government Process Re-engineering (“GPR”) initiatives for making the Incorporation Process Speedy, Smooth, Simple and reducing the number of procedures involved for starting a new Business.

As we all know that, MCA has already contributed significantly towards improvement of ranking in Ease of Doing Business in our country. This step could be a milestone.

Yes! You heard it right, there will be NO GOVERNMENT FEES to form a new Company in India.

After this step, you will all see a significant reduction in the professional fees charged by the professionals like CS, CA or Advocates.

Apart from above, the government will launch a web service know as reserve unique name (“RUN”) for reserving name of a proposed company. This will allow entrepreneurs to reserve a name for their proposed venture besides enabling them to change the name of an existing company.

Further, there is no requirement of obtaining DIN separately, entrepreneurs who wishes to incorporate a new company can apply DIN through the combined SPICe form only. People having DIN and want to incorporate a new company can fill the information in the SPICe form wherever necessary. There is a lot more scope to further improve, especially with respect to starting a business. However, aforesaid step are really great initiative from the point of view of stakeholders.

In view of the above background, MCA has notified Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2018 w.e.f. 26^th January, 2018 i.e., today. It specifies following amendments in the Companies Amendment Rules, 2014:

• Rule 9 substituted, now the said rule states that name reservation shall be made through using RUN services on MCA portal;
• Form INC 7 has been omitted;
• Substitution of Rule 12, now the said rule specifies that application for registration of a company shall be filed in Form No.INC-32 (SPICe) along with the fee as provided under the Companies (Registration offices and fees) Rules, 2014.
• Zero fees on Form INC-32 (SPICe) for Companies incorporated on or after 26^th January, 2018 with a nominal capital of less than or equal to rupees 10 lakhs  or in respect of companies not having a share capital whose number of members as stated in the articles of association does not exceed twenty.

MCA also notified Companies (Registration offices and Fees) Amendment Rules, 2018 w.e.f. 26^th January, 2018. It specifies following amendments in the Companies (Registration offices and Fees) Rules, 2018:

• No re-submission is allowed for name reservation through web service-RUN;
• A revised table has been notified under the above mentioned rules which is as follows

(I) In respect of a company having a Share Capital	OPC and Small Companies	Other than OPCs and Small Companies
1. (a) For registration of OPC and small companies whose nominal share capital less than or equal to Rs. 10,00,000.	__	__
(b) For registration of OPC and Small companies whose nominal share capital exceeds 10,00,000 the fee of 2000 with the following additional fees regulated according to the amount of nominal capital: For every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first Rs. 10,00,000 and upto Rs. 50,00,000	200	__
2. (a) For registration of a company other than OPC and Small companies whose nominal share capital less than or equal to 10,00,000 at the time of incorporation	__	__
(b) For registration of a company other than OPC and Small companies whose nominal share capital exceeds 10,00,000 the fee of 36,000/- with the following additional fees regulated according to the amount of nominal capital:	__	__
(i) For every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first Rs. 10,00,000 and upto Rs. 50,00,000	__	300
(ii) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs 10,000 after the first Rs. 50,00,000 upto 1 Crore	__	100
(iii) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first 1 crore	__	75
Provided further that where the additional fees, regulated according to the amount of the nominal capital of a company, exceeds a sum of rupees two crore and fifty lakh, the total amount of additional fees payable for the registration of such company shall not, in any case, exceed rupees two crore and fifty lakhs.
3. For filing a notice of any increase in the nominal share capital of a company, the difference between the fees payable on the increased share capital on the date of filing the notice for the registration of a company and the fees payable on existing authorized capital, at the rates prevailing on the date of filing the notice.	__	__
(a) For OPC and small Companies whose nominal capital does not exceed 10 lakhs	2000	__
(b) For OPC and small Companies, for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first Rs. 10,00,000 and upto Rs. 50,00,000	200	__
Other than OPC and small Companies (c) For increase in nominal capital of a company whose nominal capital share capital does not exceed Rs. 1,00,000.	__	__
(d) For increase in nominal capital of a company whose nominal share capital exceeds Rs. 100,000 the above fee of Rs. 5000 with the following additional fees regulated according to the amount of nominal capital:	__	__
(i) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs 10,000 after the first Rs. 1,00,000 upto 500,000	__	400
ii) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs 10,000 after the first Rs. 5,00,000 upto 50,00,000.	__	300
(iii) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first 50,00,0000 upto 1 crore	__	100
(iv) for every Rs. 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of Rs. 10,000 after the first 1 crore	__	75
Provided further that where the additional fees, regulated according to the amount of the nominal capital of a company, exceeds a sum of rupees two crore and fifty lakh, the total amount of additional fees payable for the registration of such company shall not, in any case, exceed rupees two crore and fifty lakhs.
4. For registration of any existing company, except such companies as are by this Act exempted from payment of fees in respect of registration under this Act, the same fee is charged for registering a new company.	__	__
5. For submitting, filing, registering or recording any document by this Act required or authorised to be submitted, filed, registered or recorded
(a) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of upto 1,00,000.	__	200
(b) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 1,00,000 or more but less than Rs.5,00,000.	__	300
(c) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 5,00,000 or more but less than Rs.25,00,000	__	400
(d) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs.25,00,000 or more but less than Rs. 1 crore or more	__	500
(e) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 1 crore or more. Provided that in case of companies to be incorporated with effect from 26.01.2018 with a nominal capital which does not exceed rupees 10 lakhs fee shall not be payable	__	600
6. For making a record of or registering any fact by this Act required or authorised to be recorded or registered by the Registrar -
(a) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of upto 1,00,000.	__	200
(b) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 1,00,000 or more but less than Rs.5,00,000.	__	300
(c) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 5,00,000 or more but less than Rs.25,00,000		400
(d) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs.25,00,000 or more but less than Rs. 1 crore or more		500
(e) in respect of a company having a nominal share capital of Rs. 1 crore or more.		600
(II) In respect of a company not having a share capital :
7. For registration of a company whose number of members as stated in the articles of association, does not exceed 20	__	__
8. For registration of a company whose number of members as stated in the articles of association, exceeds 20 but does not exceed 200	__	5000
9. For registration of a company whose number of members as stated in the articles of association, exceeds 200 but is not stated to be unlimited, the above fee of Rs.5,000 with an additional Rs. 10 for every member after first 200.	__	__
10. For registration of a company in which the number of members is stated in the articles of association to be unlimited.	__	10,000
11. For registration of any increase in the number of members made after the registration of the company, the same fees as would have been payable in respect of such increase, if such increase had been stated in the articles of association at the time of registration: Provided that no company shall be liable to pay on the whole a greater fee than Rs. 10,000 in respect of its number of members, taking into account the fee paid on the first registration of the company.	__	__
12. For registration of any existing company except such companies as are by this Act exempted from payment of fees in respect of registration under this Act, the same fee as is charged for registering a new company.	__	__
13. For filing or registering any document by this Act required or authorized to be filed or registered with the Registrar. Provided that in case of companies to be incorporated with effect from 26.01.2018 whose number of members a stated in the articles of association does not exceed 20, fee shall not be payable	__	200
14. For making a record of or registering any fact by this Act required or authorized to be recorded or registered by the Registrar.	__	200

SCREENSHOT OF FEES FOR REFERENCE OVER MCA PORTAL

1. Incorporation of company with authorized capital 10 lakhs 

2. Incorporation of company with authorized capital 20 lakhs 

CONTACT FOR ANY QUERY OR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IN DELHI NCR AT cspraveensingh111@gmail.com or 8510058386

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Praveen Singh