The government has set up a six-member high-level committee to review the existing mechanism to deal with misconduct among chartered accountants, cost accountants, and company secretaries.
The panel, headed by retired IAS officer Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, has been constituted by the Corporate Affairs Ministry recently. Other members are former Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman R K Tiwari, ex-additional controller of Defence Accounts Bindu Agnihotri, former chief commissioner of Income Tax Amit Chatterjee, Supreme Court advocate Nalin Kohli and joint director at the Corporate Affairs Ministry D Bandopadhyay.
The main function entrusted with the panel is to “look into issues related to the disposal of the disciplinary cases in the professional institutes”. This is in the backdrop of some members from these streams coming under the scanner of investigative agencies for alleged professional misconduct.
The apex groupings representing the chartered accountants, cost accountants, and company secretaries are considered as professional institutes, comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The panel would examine the “existing provisions in the Acts, rules, and regulations for dealing with cases of misconduct in the three institutes” as well as suggest possible amendments.
This is being done to strengthen the current mechanism in place and ensure speedy disposal of the disciplinary cases, among others, as per a recent order issued by the Ministry. According to the order, the panel would look at various options, including the compilation of a manual on disciplinary procedure and time limit for completion of disciplinary proceedings.
The panel would also examine the possibility of imposing a penalty on entities making complaints on “frivolous grounds or to settle personal scores”.
