Section 76a, 77, 78, 82, 89 and 90 of Companies Amendment Act 2017

 

Amendment of section 76A of Companies Act 2013

17. In section 76A of the principal Act,-
(a) in clause (a), for the words, "one crore rupees", the words "one crore rupees or twice the amount of deposit accepted by the company, whichever is lower" shall be substituted;
(b) in clause (b),-
(i) for the words "seven years or with fine", the words "seven years and with fine" shall be substituted;
(ii) the words "or with both" shall be omitted

 

 

 

Amendment of section 77 of Companies Act 2013

18. In section 77 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), after the third proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided also that this section shall not apply to such charges as may be prescribed in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.".

 

Amendment of section 78 of Companies Act 2013

19. In section 78 of the principal Act, for the words and figures "register the charge within the period specified in section 77", the words, brackets and figures "register the charge within the period of thirty days referred to in sub-section (1) of section 77" shall be substituted.

 

Amendment of section 82 of Companies Act 2013

20. In section 82 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),-
(i) the words, brackets and figures "and the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 77 shall, as far as may be, apply to an intimation given under this section" shall be omitted;


(ii) the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided that the Registrar may, on an application by the company or the charge holder, allow such intimation of payment or satisfaction to be made within a period of three hundred days of such payment or satisfaction on payment of such additional fees as may be prescribed.".

 

Amendment of section 89 of Companies Act 2013

21. In section 89 of the principal Act,-
(i) in sub-section (6), the words and figures, "within the time specified under section 403" shall be omitted;
(ii) in sub-section (7), for the words and figures, "under the first proviso to sub-section (1) of section 403", the word "therein", shall be substituted;
(iii) after sub-section (9), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-
"(10) For the purposes of this section and section 90, beneficial interest in a share includes, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement or otherwise, the right or entitlement of a person alone or together with any other person to-
(i) exercise or cause to be exercised any or all of the rights attached to such share; or
(ii) receive or participate in any dividend or other distribution in respect of such share."

 

Substitution of new section for section 90. Register of significant beneficial owners in a company

22. For section 90 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:-
'90. (1) Every individual, who acting alone or together, or through one or more persons or trust, including a trust and persons resident outside India, holds beneficial interests, of not less than twenty-five per cent. or such other percentage as may be prescribed, in shares of a company or the right to exercise, or the actual exercising of significant influence or control as defined in clause (27) of section 2, over the company (herein referred to as "significant beneficial owner"), shall make a declaration to the company, specifying the nature of his interest and other particulars, in such manner and within such period of acquisition of the beneficial interest or rights and any change thereof, as may be prescribed:
Provided that the Central Government may prescribe a class or classes of persons who shall not be required to make declaration under this sub-section.
(2) Every company shall maintain a register of the interest declared by individuals under sub-section (1) and changes therein which shall include the name of individual, his date of birth, address, details of ownership in the company and such other details as may be prescribed.
(3) The register maintained under sub-section (2) shall be open to inspection by any member of the company on payment of such fees as may be prescribed.
(4) Every company shall file a return of significant beneficial owners of the company and changes therein with the Registrar containing names, addresses and other details as may be prescribed within such time, in such form and manner as may be prescribed.
(5) A company shall give notice, in the prescribed manner, to any person (whether or not a member of the company) whom the company knows or has reasonable cause to believe-
(a) to be a significant beneficial owner of the company;
(b) to be having knowledge of the identity of a significant beneficial owner or another person likely to have such knowledge; or
(c) to have been a significant beneficial owner of the company at any time during the three years immediately preceding the date on which the notice is issued, and who is not registered as a significant beneficial owner with the company as required under this section.
(6) The information required by the notice under sub-section (5) shall be given by the concerned person within a period not exceeding thirty days of the date of the notice.
(7) The company shall,-
(a) where that person fails to give the company the information required by the notice within the time specified therein; or
(b) where the information given is not satisfactory,
apply to the Tribunal within a period of fifteen days of the expiry of the period specified in the notice, for an order directing that the shares in question be subject to restrictions with regard to transfer of interest, suspension of all rights attached to the shares and such other matters as may be prescribed.
(8) On any application made under sub-section (7), the Tribunal may, after giving an opportunity of being heard to the parties concerned, make such order restricting the rights attached with the shares within a period of sixty days of receipt of application or such other period as may be prescribed.

(9) The company or the person aggrieved by the order of the Tribunal may make an application to the Tribunal for relaxation or lifting of the restrictions placed under sub-section (8).
(10) If any person fails to make a declaration as required under sub-section (1), he shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to ten lakh rupees and where the failure is a continuing one, with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for every day after the first during which the failure continues.
(11) If a company, required to maintain register under sub-section (2) and file the information under sub-section (4), fails to do so or denies inspection as provided therein, the company and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than ten lakh rupees but which may extend to fifty lakh rupees and where the failure is a continuing one, with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for every day after the first during which the failure continues.
(12) If any person wilfully furnishes any false or incorrect information or suppresses any material information of which he is aware in the declaration made under this section, he shall be liable to action under section 447.'.