Company Law - Lightened & Enlightened

Generally, it is believed that laws and laughter are at 180 degrees to each other. Because, laws are usually dry, impersonal, negatively worded and lengthy also. Hence, corporate managerial personnel and other executives, entrepreneurs, investors, students and sometimes even professionals feel sick of reading laws and especially the Companies Act which is one of the most voluminous legislations in India.

Introduction of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘the Act’), frequent amendments in the Act and rules as well as various notifications and circulars from time to time have increased the complexities of laws manifold. Add to it, there is established principle of law that ‘Ignorance of law is no excuse’ (for non-compliance). Hence, understanding the implications of laws in the right perspective is of the utmost importance. The author has endeavoured to share his conceptual understanding on Indian Company Law in simple and plain English with practical aspects with a bit of humorous touch.

A chapter on ‘General Compliances under the Companies Act, 2013’ in tabular form provides much needed alerts for filing usual forms under the Act. ‘General Care under the Companies Act, 2013’ will help the corporate personnel to carry out usual compliances under the Act for various corporate actions and can be used as a Ready Referencer. For easy reading, the author has tried to reduce usage of legal jargons but cannot guarantee in view of a die-hard habit. Few examples/anecdotes are also included as a sweetener to enable the readers to easily gulp the basic understanding. Reference of the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 vis-a-vis the provisions of the Act would better help the readers to compare, contrast and understand the implications of laws. Likewise, reference of the provisions of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015(‘LODR’) vis-a-vis the provisions of the Act would facilitate the readers especially dealing with Listed Companies in designing corporate actions/strategies ensuring compliance of both the statutes. Reference of the provisions of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) especially in the chapter of ‘Corporate Restructuring & Dissolution’ would assist the corporate executives in designing corporate restructuring strategy to combat with volatile economic scenario. I venture to present this book namely ‘Company Law — Lightened & Enlightened’.

This book is also in line with the recent advisory dated 27 th July, 2022 issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India to the Company Secretaries. It broadly conveys as follows:

“Investors/stakeholders may not be familiar with the usage of pure legal/ technical terms. While it may not be practically feasible to completely eliminate legal/technical terms, efforts must be towards making the language simple, concise and clear without any scope for doubt/misinterpretation.”

The would be of assistance to Professionals like Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Cost Accountants, Advocates etc.; Corporate Managerial Personnel like
Managing/Executive directors, CEOs, CFOs; Non-Executive Directors (including Independent and Nominee Directors) and other concerned corporate executives;

Entrepreneurs including start-ups intending to carry on the business/ profession of their own; Students, especially those aspiring for a legal/managerial/commercial career; Avid Readers.