ICSI Introduces New Initiatives
for its Students & Members for 2014-15
Kolkata, 2014: The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) ,
established by an Act of Parliament in 1980, is the country’s premier
regulatory body for the CS profession . Top ICSI office bearers, including
newly elected President of ICSI, CS R. Sridharan and
Vice-President of ICSI, CS Vikas Y Khare, were in the city for an
introductory meeting with their Eastern India Region counterparts at ICSI-House
in Kolkata.
CS R.
Sridharan, President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India
(ICSI) interacted with reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
CS R. Sridharan, outlined the
major initiatives of the Institute and informed on the Institute’s plan to to
introduce the ICSI Computer Based Examination (CBE) for its Foundation-level
course which is offered to Std. XII pass students / appearing students,
and an Open Book Examination (OBE) system in elective subjects in module III of
the CS Professional Programme from June 1st this year:
The CS Professional
Programme offers five elective subjects in module III, viz. Banking Law
and Practice; Capital, Commodity and Money markets; Insurance Law and Practice;
Intellectual Property Rights Law and Practice; and International Business Laws
and Practice. A student has to opt for only one of these five subjects as
per his/her interest.
“The OBE will also make candidates
use their study material, class notes, textbooks bare acts and other
relevant papers while attempting their answers, as per the requirement of
questions. The emphasis would be on assessing the students’ understanding
of the subject , application of mind rather than the ability to memorise
large text or rules of law”, added Mr. Sridharan.
“The OBE is also aimed at
developing skills of creative thinking, problem solving and decision making at
professional level course and to test analytical ability, understanding of
facts, concepts and mastery to apply the same”, he added.
While speaking on
Companies Act, 2013, Mr. Sridharan informed that , ”The crucial role that a
CS plays in a company can be gauged by the fact that the Companies Act, 2013
recognises Company Secretaries as a “Key Managerial Personnel” along with the
Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director / Manager, whole-time director and
Chief Financial Officer (section 203). Being Key Managerial Personnel, Company
Secretary is required to be mandatorily appointed in every company belonging to
such class or classes of companies as may be prescribed.
Also the duties of Company Secretaries under the Companies Act,
2013 have been substantially enhanced and they are required to advise the Board
of Director on adoption of good governance practices in the Company on the role
and responsibility of Directors. They are also recognized as the Chief
Compliance Officer of the Company as they have to report to the Board about the
Compliance of all laws by the Company. The Act also empowers Company
Secretaries to be appointed as Administrator, Company Liquidators, Technical
Member of National Company Law Tribunal and have also been assigned duty to
report fraud. As a Governance Professional a Company Secretary is required to
strike a balance among conflicting demands and rising expectations of
Stakeholders.
The introduction of Secretarial Audit of
Non-Financial Information and the Secretarial Standards of ICSI have been
landmark recognitions of the profession of Company Secretaries, where Company
Secretaries will now have to assume enlarged roles and don the roles as
Governance Professionals.
President ICSI, said that ,”The institute will be doing a
Nationwide Capacity Building exercises among the existing professionals and
Members to meet the requirements of the enhanced and elevated position of CS in
the New company Law.
Senior ICSI office-bearers, including Secretary ICSI CS M.S.
Sahoo, Chief Executive CS Sutanu Sinha, Director CS Alka Kapoor, Eastern
Region Chairman
CS Arun Kumar Khandelia , were also present on the
occasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment