(a) whether SEBI has ordered that all listed companies should
subject themselves to a secretarial audit within two months
to be undertaken by a qualified chartered accountant or a
company secretary; and
(b) if so, the purpose and objective to be achieved by this move?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND COMPANY AFFAIRS
(SHRI ANANDRAO V. ADSUL)
(a) & (b) Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has
informed that it received complaints from the Investors
Grievances Forum alleging that several companies have
dematted shares in excess of their paid up capital
and that the promoters have colluded with ROC, Depositories,
Stock Exchanges and managed to demat the additional shares even
before getting them listed on the stock exchanges.
SEBI has, as a measure to prevent such occurances in the
future, issued a circular, on 31st December, 2002, to the
Stock Exchanges, Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs) and
the Depositories, casting an obligation on the RTAs to
conduct a secretarial audit to be undertaken by a
qualified Chartered Accountant or a Company Secretary, for
the purpose of reconciliation of the total admitted capital
with both the depositories and the total issued and listed capital.
The audit is also required to certify that:
(i) the Register of Members is updated;
(ii) that the dematerialisation request has been
confirmed within 21 days and state the shares pending
confirmation for more than 21 days from the date of
requests and reasons for delay;
(iii) The details of changes in share capital during
the quarter and certify in case of listed companies
whether `in-principle` approval for listing from all
stock exchanges was obtained in respect of all further issues.
The first such report as of 31st December,2002 should be
obtained by the stock exchanges within 60 days and
thereafter every calendar quarter within 30 days.