Unregulated Deposits

PIB press release dated 10th July, 2019

Cabinet approves the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 

Bill to be introduced in ensuing session of Parliament

Posted On: 10 JUL 2019 6:04PM by PIB Delhi

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019.  It will replace the banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019.

The banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 will replace the Ordinance promulgated on 21^stFebruary, 2019, which will otherwise cease to operate after six weeks after reassembly of Parliament. 

Impact

The Bill will help tackle the menace of illicit deposit taking activities in the country, which at present are exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings.

Background

 The banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme Bill, 2018 was considered by the Lok Sabha in its sitting held on 13^th February, 2019 and after discussion, the same was passed, as amended through the proposed official amendments, as the banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme Bill, 2019.  However, before the same could be considered and passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on the same day.

Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions

PIB press release dated 10th July, 2019

Cabinet approves Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill, 2019

13 Central Labour Laws brought in ambit of New Code

Posted On: 10 JUL 2019 6:04PM by PIB Delhi

In the spirit of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’ and ‘Sabka Vishwas’, the NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been continuously working for the benefit of people from various walks of life. With this objective, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved for introduction of the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill, 2019 in the Parliament. This proposal would enhance the coverage of the safety, health and working conditions provisions manifold as compared to the present scenario. The decision will enhance the coverage of the safety, health and working conditions provisions manifold as compared to the present scenario.

The New Code has been drafted after amalgamation, simplification and rationalisation of the relevant provisions of the 13 Central Labour Acts:

• The Factories Act, 1948;
• The Mines Act, 1952; The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986;
• The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996;
• The Plantations Labour Act, 1951;
• The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970;
• The Inter-State Migrant workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979;
• The Working Journalist and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service and Misc. Provision) Act, 1955;
• The Working Journalist (Fixation of rates of wages) Act, 1958;
• The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961;
• Sales Promotion Employees (Condition of Service) Act, 1976;
• The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966; and
• The Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers Act, 1981. After the enactment of the Code, all these Acts being subsumed in the Code will be repealed.

Benefits

• Safety, Health, welfare and improved Working Conditions are pre-requisite for well-being of the worker and also for economic growth of the country as healthy workforce of the country would be more productive and occurrence of less accidents and unforeseen incidents would be economically beneficial to the employers also. With the ultimate aim of extending the safety and healthy working conditions to all workforce of the country, the Code enhances the ambit of provisions of safety, health, welfare and working conditions from existing about 9 major sectors to all establishments having 10 or more employees.

NFRA-1

MCA has deployed the form NFRA-1 on the site  https://nfra.gov.in/ 

This form is to be filed by the following entities:

(a) companies whose securities are listed on any stock exchange in India or outside India;

(b) unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores or having annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores or having, in aggregate, outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores as on the 31st March of immediately preceding financial year;

(c) insurance companies, banking companies, companies engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, companies governed by any special Act for the time being in force or bodies corporate incorporated by an Act in accordance with clauses (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of sub-section (4) of section 1 of the Act;

(d) any body corporate or company or person, or any class of bodies corporate or companies or persons, on a reference made to the Authority by the Central Government in public interest; and

(e) a body corporate incorporated or registered outside India, which is a subsidiary or associate company of any company or body corporate incorporated or registered in India as referred to in clauses (a) to (d), if the income or networth of such subsidiary or associate company exceeds twenty per cent. of the consolidated income or consolidated networth of such company or the body corporate, as the case may be, referred to in clauses (a) to (d).

The form is required to be filed on or before 31st July, 2019. 

RTGS - extension of timings

RBI circular dated 28th May 2019

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11564&Mode=0

Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System – Extension of Timings for Customer Transactions

A reference is invited to circular DPSS (CO) RTGS No.492/04.04.002/2015-16 dated September 1, 2015 on ‘Changes in RTGS time window’ and circular DPSS (CO) RTGS No.1926/04.04.002/2015-16 dated February 4, 2016 on ‘RTGS service charges for members and customers - Rationalisation’.

2. It has been decided to extend the timings for customer transactions (initial cut-off) in RTGS from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Accordingly, the RTGS time window with effect from June 01, 2019 will be as under:

Sr. No.	Event	Time
1.	Open for Business	08:00 hours
2.	Customer transactions (Initial Cut-off)	18:00 hours
3.	Inter-bank transactions (Final Cut-off)	19:45 hours
4.	IDL Reversal	19:45 hours - 20:00 hours
5.	End of Day	20:00 hours

3. The time-varying charges for transactions in RTGS from 13:00 hours to 18:00 hours shall be ₹ 5 per outward transaction. The time varying charges structure is as under:

Sr. No.	Time of Settlement at the Reserve Bank of India		Time varying charge per outward transaction (in addition to flat processing charge) (exclusive of tax, if any)
	From	To
1	08:00 hours	11:00 hours	Nil
2	After 11:00 hours	13:00 hours	₹ 2.00
3	After 13:00 hours	18:00 hours	₹ 5.00
4	After 18:00 hours		₹ 10.00

4. This directive is issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

The Magic Bullet

The Magic Bullet by Harry Stein is a medical thriller on the likes of Robin Cook books The Coma. Daniel Logan is an up and coming medical scientist who wants to work in frontier research in cancer cure. He is accepted into the prestigious American Cancer Foundation, and stumbles upon a magic cure for cancer. But the machinations and deviousness of his seniors at the ACF puts paid to his efforts. How he extricates himself and his Italian girlfriend forms the rest of the narrative. I would sya a pulsating throbbing medical thriller. Goodreads 5/5

Class Action Suits

Section 245 of the companies act, 2013 is a new addition in the 2013 Act, which provides for a class action suit to be filed by such number of member(s)/ depositor(s) against the company. Vast powers have been given in the section against the company. The application under this section has to be made to the National company law tribunal (NCLT). But the Rules under this section which is in the National Company Law Tribunal Rules did not hitherto specify how many members/ depositors are required in order to file an application.

By an amendment to the NCLT Rules, the MCA has sorted that matter out.

So the class action suit can be brought by at least 5% of the total number of members in a company or 100 members, whichever is less.

Alternatively it can be bought by member or members holding not less than 5% of the issued share capital of the company in case of unlisted company and 2% in case of listed company.


In case of depositors, it is

5% of the total number of depositors or 100 depositors whichever is less OR

depositor or depositors to whom the company owes 5% of the total deposits of the company.

The copy of the notification can be found at the MCA site.

Strike off Rules

MCA has vide its notification dated 8th May, 2019 made some amendments to the rules governing strike off of companies. This is the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from Register), Rules, 2016.

Well, first and foremost, they have doubled the fees for making an application for strike off from Rs.5000/- to Rs.10,000/-.

Secondly, they have clarified that all pending annual e-forms have to be filed by the company before making an application for strike off in form STK-2. Hitherto, this was not required and different ROCs interpreted it differently. This brings in uniformity. But MCA should have provided for closure of the companies without having to file the baggage annual e-forms. It will lead to huge cost to the company to file all delayed annual e-forms because the late fees is now Rs.100 per day from 1st July, 2018 onwards. It is not ease of doing business.

Thirdly if the company intends to file an STK-2 application after the MCA has initiated steps to close down the company, then also the company has to file all pending and overdue annual e-forms to make it upto date.

However, once the MCA has issued a notice to the company in form STK-7 after initiating closure action against the company as per above, then the company cannot file the form STK-2. Meaning once the action gets initiated at the MCA end, then the company cannot subvert it by filing a STK-2 application.

The accounts of the company which has to be attached to the form STK-2 is provided in form STK-8.

The copy of the notification is available at the MCA site.