Reported by Apoorv Agarwal
Mr. Sinha, Chief Executive of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India delivered a lecture at National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata on the 19th of September. During the lecture he discussed the changes in the Companies Act and the role played by lawyers in times of crisis such as the Satyam Scam. His thought provoking speech led to questions on the 2G scam as well as the rationale behind the bar placed on lawyers who also wish to practice as a company secretary since many students at NUJS are pursuing the company secretary course. His sense of humour kept the session alive for one hour as he shifted from the roles in not trying to antagonize the audience of budding lawyers. The recent development of the National Company Law Tribunal permitting non-lawyers yet specialists such as company secretaries and chartered accountants being permitted was raised by one of the students. The man who had over twenty five years of professional experience in the Company Secretarial and Corporate Functioning carefully carved out an answer by a perfect reasoning. The Supreme Court plays the role of law making and basis its understanding on the evidence provided at the lower stage of the judiciary. The NCLT is that stage where evidence providing is utmost important and thus those who have specialisation in the field should be permitted to represent the client. If lawyers are to represent maybe the minute details will be missed out leading to lack of justice at the Supreme Court level. This reasoning left the audience satisfied. The discussions were also held on the rating of a Board and since the man himself is on the Board of Canara Bank, his experience was very intriguing as professors joined in the discussion.