The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries(Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed on Tuesday in the Rajya Sabha after it was put to vote 200 times.
New Delhi: On Tuesday, in the Rajya Sabha a voice vote was taken 200 times before the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries(Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed.
During the process of legislation, the debate on the bill and the reply of the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took about 2hours and 20 minutes. Another 30 minutes was spent on the process of voting on the 106 clauses and clause-wise amendments.
The time spent in this procedure equals to 18% of the total time required to pass the bill. In the process of legislation of a bill, if amendments are moved, each clause is put to vote for times depending on the number of members moving amendments in case of each clause.
The managing director of Kairali TV and a member of Rajya Sabha, John Brittas of CPI(M) put forward 163 notices for amendments to different clauses of the bill. MP Binoy Viswam of the CPI also moved a few amendments.
The upper house members who move amendments sometimes may choose not to take the amendments to vote when their turn comes. But, Brittas choose to take almost all the amendments he put forward to voting during the clause-wise consideration of the bill. Hence, as per the rules, all the amendments put to vote in the Rajya Sabha accounted for a voice vote taken more than 200 times.
The vocal cords of deputy Chairman Harivansh were heard to have a difficult time keeping up by the end as he had to read aloud the clauses, the number of amendments moved to each clause, names of the Members moving the amendments to the clauses and the voting process.
The CA, CWA and CS(Amendment) Bill, 2022 amends the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959, and the Company Secretaries Act, 1980. The many frauds and scandals happening in the last few years brought focus to the role of independent auditors carrying out statutory audits.
In October 2018, the Central government had to override the board of IL&FS due to the number of defaults of the NBFC in debt repayment. Under the Companies Act, 2013 the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) was formed by the Central Government after the Punjab National Bank fraud in 2018.
It investigated misconduct by chartered accountants or firms of chartered accountants. This ended the practice of self-regulation by chartered accountants. The aim of the CA, CWA and CS (Amendment Bill), 2021 is to enhance the responsibility of practitioners and firms through the amendments by introducing more independent disciplinary mechanisms, registering firms, and increasing penalties.
Edited by – Subbuthai Padma
Published by Iram Rizvi
