LS passes Companies (Amendment) Bill

Lok Sabha on Friday gave its nod to the Companies (Amendment) Bill which seeks to tighten corporate social responsibility compliance and reduce the load of cases on the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the draft law will also ensure more accountability and better enforcement to strengthen the corporate governance norms.

Opposing the ordinance brought earlier, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Cong) and Saugata Roy (TMC) said it was not required as the law has been amended on several occasions. Pinaki Misra (BJD) described the bill as "disastrous", saying the legislation has been drafted by bureaucrats and the lawmakers have just rubberstamped it.

A Raja (DMK) said the registrar of companies has been given "excessive powers" which is not good. P P Chaudhury (BJP) said once the law is amended, it will help in ease of doing business and give a boost to commerce.

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