The day is not far when the company secretaries in the country are re-designated as ‘governance professionals’, according to Sachin Pilot, Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs.
“The Parliament has enacted the Companies Act 2013 which envisages major changes in corporate governance. It is for the company secretaries to ensure that the boards of directors and managements of companies comply with the laws. The new Companies Act has increased the responsibilities of the company secretaries and the day is not far off when they have to be re-designated as governance professionals,” said Pilot while inaugurating the 41st All India Convention of the Company Secretaries at Chennai on Thursday. More than 1,200 delegates listened in rapt attention as the young Minister set the tone and agenda for the three-day long convention.
Pilot pointed out that with the amended Companies Act in place, the responsibilities of the company secretaries become multifarious in nature. “Since the Institute of Company Secretaries of India was established by an act of Parliament in 1956, the proposal to change the name too should be approved by Parliament,” he said.
He said the UPA Government got the Companies Act 2013 passed in Parliament with the active support of all the 44 political parties represented in the House. “Consensus could yield major results. Though the Parliament’s Standing Committee of Finance is headed by a BJP leader, we never had any problem in getting the Act passed in Parliament. The I am good, you are bad mentality is for the period of election. Once the elections are over and everything is in place all of us politicians work for the common good of the country,” said Pilot sounding quite different from his other top leaders in the Congress.
The Union Minister pointed out that the changed scenarios has necessitated the creation of 15 million jobs every year in the country. There are 650 million youths waiting to be employed in India. Public sector alone would not be able to create that many jobs and hence we need a public private participation,” he said.
later speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the convention, Pilot said a National Fraud Reporting Agency, a body with quasi -judicial powers is on the anvil to detect corporate frauds.