Shri P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs in the written reply to a question in Lok Sabha last day said that CSR Portal ensures transparency and accountability on CSR Funds.
Section 135 (3) & (4) of the Companies Act, 2013 empowers the Board of the company, and its CSR Committee to select programmes/ projects/activities to be undertaken, allocation and utilization of CSR funds towards such activities, selection of implementing agencies and to monitor the same.
Section 135 (5) read with Section 134 (3) (o) of the Act mandates the Board to disclose in its report, the CSR Policy developed and implemented by the company, including the details like funds earmarked, the expenditure made, implementing agencies appointed etc. The details reported in the annual financial statement of the company are required to be audited by the auditor of the company under the Act.
To ensure transparency and accountability in the utilization of CSR funds, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has launched National CSR Data Portal (www.csr.gov.in) displaying disclosures made by companies in the MCA21 registry.
