Income Tax

• CBDT vide Circular No.16/2020 DATED 30-08-2020, has advised to bank to immediately refund the charges collected, if any, on or after 1″ January, 2020 on transactions carried out using the electronic modes prescribed under section 269SU of the IT Act and not to impose charges on any future transactions carried through the said prescribed modes.
• CBDT vide Circular F. NO. 225/126/2020/ITA-II,DATED 17-09-2020, has issued guidelines for compulsory selection of returns for complete scrutiny during Financial Year 2020-21 and conduct of assessment proceedings under Faceless Assessment Scheme 2020.
• Taxation and other laws (Relaxation and amendment of certain provisions) bill, 2020 has been presented in The Parliament for approval on 18-09-2020. 
• CBDT vide Notification S.O. 3303 (E) [NO. 78 /2020. F. NO. 187/4/2020 ITA -I], DATED 25-9-2020, has launched Faceless Income-tax Appeals as Hon’ble PM on 13th August, 2020 had announced while launching the Faceless Assessment and Taxpayers’ Charter as part of “Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest” platform. 

And in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (6B) of section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby makes the procedure with respect to faceless appeal scheme, 2020.

• CBIC vide Notification No. 64/2020 – Central Tax dated 31th Aug 2020 has extended the due date  of filing FORM GSTR-4 (Composition taxpayers) for  financial year 2019-20 to 31.10.2020.

• CBIC vide Notification No. 65/2020 – Central Tax dated 1st September 2020 has extended the due date of compliance which falls during the period from “20.03.2020 to 29.11.2020” till 30.11.2020. CBIC Amended notification no. 35/2020- Central Tax dated 03.04.2020.   

• CBIC vide Notification No. 66/2020 – Central Tax dated 21st September 2020 has extended the time limit for complying with the compliance requirement under section 31(7) of the said act  in respect of goods being sent or taken out of India on approval for sale or return, which falls during the period from the 20th day of March, 2020 to the 30th day of October, 2020, and where completion or compliance of such action has not been made within such time, then, the time limit for completion or compliance of such action, to the 31st day of October, 2020.

• CBIC vide Notification No. 67/2020 – Central Tax dated 21st September 2020 ―Provided that late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act, shall stand waived which is in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees and shall stand fully waived where the total amount of central tax payable in the said return is nil, for the registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-4 for the quarters from July, 2017 to March, 2020 by the due date but furnishes the said return between the period from 22th day of September, 2020 to 31st day of October, 2020.

• CBIC vide Notification No. 68/2020 – Central Tax dated 21st September 2020 waived the amount of late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act which is in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees, for the registered persons who fail to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-10 by the due date but furnishes the said return between the period from 22 th day of September, 2020 to 31st day of December, 2020.

New Functionalities on the GST Portal

• • New functionality GSTR-2B has been made available on the GST Portal. GSTR-2B is an auto-drafted Input Tax Credit (ITC) statement generated for every recipient, on the basis of the information furnished by their suppliers, in their respective Form GSTR-1 & 5 and Form GSTR-6 filed by ISD. Taxpayers can now reconcile data generated in Form GSTR-2B, with their own records and books of accounts.
  • A functionality to generate PDF statement has been made available to taxpayers, registered as a Normal taxpayer, SEZ Developer, SEZ unit and casual taxpayer, filing monthly GSTR-1 statement, on their GSTR-3B dashboard. The PDF contains system computed values of Table 3 of Form GSTR-3B, prepared on the basis of values reported by the taxpayer, in their GSTR-1 statement, for the said tax period.
  • Provision to make amendment, multiple times, in Table 4 of Form GSTR-8.  Earlier, if no action was taken on TCS details, auto-populated in TDS/TCS credit form, by the supplier or if the same were rejected by them in the said form, the TCS (e-commerce operators) could amend the details only once. Based on requests received from stakeholders, the restriction of amending the transaction details only once, in the table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, has now been removed.
  • TCS facility extended to composition taxpayer: The taxpayers under composition scheme, who are permitted to make supplies through E-Commerce Operators, e.g. Restaurant Services, will now be able to view and take necessary actions in their TDS/TCS credit received form. The amount of tax collected at source, reported by E Commerce Operators in their Form GSTR-8, will now be populated to ‘TDS /TCS credit received’ form of respective composition taxpayers.

• Delinking of Credit Note/Debit Note from invoice, while reporting them in Form GSTR: Till now, original invoice number was mandatorily required to be quoted by the taxpayers, while reporting a Credit Note or Debit Note in Form GSTR. Debit /Credit Notes can be declared with tax amount, but without any taxable value also i.e. if credit note or debit note is issued for difference in tax rate only, then note value can be reported as ‘Zero’. Only tax amount will have to be entered in such cases.  

 

• The Lok Sabha has passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 through voice vote. 

The Bill to further amend 48 sections of the Companies Act, 2013 by decriminalizing various non-compoundable offences in case of defaults, but not involving frauds, omitting imprisonment for various offences which were considered procedural and technical in nature. The bill removes the penalty, imprisonment for 9 offenses which relate to non-compliance with orders of the national company law tribunal (NCLT), and reduces the amount of fine payable in certain cases. These include matters relating to winding-up of companies, default in publication of NCLT order relating to the reduction of share capital, the rectification of registers of security holders, the variation of rights of shareholders, and payment of interest and redemption of debentures. Further, the bill seeks to allow public companies to directly list certain prescribed classes of securities in foreign jurisdictions. Under the current legal framework, Indian companies cannot directly list their securities abroad without getting themselves listed in domestic bourses. This Bill also stipulates that specified classes of unlisted companies will have to prepare and file their periodic financial results. Furthermore, the Bill provides that Companies that have CSR spending obligation up to ₹50 lakh would not be required to constitute a CSR committee. Also, eligible companies under CSR provision will be allowed to set off any amount spent in excess of their CSR spending obligation in a particular financial year towards such obligation in subsequent financial years. Besides introducing a separate chapter for “Producer Companies”, the Bill also pave the way for setting up of Benches of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

 

• MCA has issued a circular to provide Relaxation of additional fees and extension of the last date of filing of CRA-4 (form for filing of the cost audit report) for FY 2019-20 under the Companies Act, 2013. 

 

MCA has extended the last date of filing of CRA-4 (form for filing of the cost audit report) for the financial year 2019-20 and also relaxed the additional fees of filing CRA-4. MCA has decided that if cost audit report for the financial year 2019-20 by the cost auditor to the Board of Directors of the companies are submitted by 30th November, 2020 than the same would not be viewed as a violation of rule 6(5) of Companies (cost records and audit) Rules, 2014. Consequently, the cost audit report for the financial year ended on 31st March, 2020 shall be filed in e-form CRA-4 within 30 days from the date of receipt of the copy of the cost audit report by the company. However, in case a company has availed extension of time for holding Annual General Meeting then e-form CRA-4 may be filed within the timeline provided under the proviso to rule 6(6) of the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules, 2014. On the receipt of the Cost audit report from Cost auditors, the company has to submit the same to Central Government in form CRA-4.

 

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has directed all Registrar of Companies (RoC) to accord its approval of three months extension to companies who have not able to hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) for the financial year ended March 31, 2020. 

In terms of the power vested under the third proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 96 of the Act, the Registrar of Companies extended the time to hold AGM, other than the first AGM, for the financial year ended on March 31, 2020, for Companies within the jurisdiction of this office, which are unable to hold their Annual General, without requiring the for such period within the due date of holding the AGM by a period of three months from the due date by which the AGM ought to have been held in accordance with companies to file applications for seeking such extension by filing the prescribed Form No. GNL-1. The ROC clarified that the extension granted under this Order shall also cover the pending applications filed in Form No. GNL-1 for the extension of AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020, which is yet to be approved. Further, the applications filed in Form No. GNL-1 for the extension of AGM for the financial year ended on March 31, 2020, which were rejected, where the approval for the extension of AGM up to 3 months from the due date of the AGM shall be deemed to have been granted without any further action on the part of the Company.

• The MCA notifies Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Amendment Rules, 2020 which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette i.e 07-09-2020. 

The amendment is made in the existing Rule 2(1)(c)(xvii) of Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 2014, which deals with the amount received by a Start-up Company by way of the convertible notes. Accordingly, a start-up company is now allowed to receive an amount of twenty-five lakh rupees or more, by way of a convertible note (convertible into equity shares or repayable within a period not exceeding Ten years from the date of issue) in a single tranche, from a person. Earlier this period was up to 5 years which is now extended up to 10 years.

• MCA has notified the Companies (Management and Administration) Amendment Rules, 2020 which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette i.e28-08-2020.

Through this amendment, a new proviso has been added to Rule 12(1) as provided that a company shall not be required to attach the extract of the annual return with the Board’s report in Form No. MGT.9, in case the web link of such annual return has been disclosed in the Board’s report in accordance with sub-section (3) of section 92 of the Companies Act, 2013. Accordingly, every company is required to place a copy of the annual return on their website, if any, and shall also put the weblink of the same in their Board’s Report. Companies would not be required to attach the Extract of Annual Return in Form MGT-9 with its Board’s Report, if the Annual Return is hosted on the website of the Company.

IBBI

• The IBBI has released the Discussion Paper on Corporate Liquidation Process and invited public comments on the same. 

The Corporate liquidation process may not get unduly delayed in the coming days if the insolvency regulator IBBI has its way. On the anvil are two steps— enabling liquidator to assign ‘Not Readily Realisable Assets’ (NRRA) through public auction to third parties and allowing creditors to transfer or assign their debt during the liquidation process to any other person, that will help expedite the liquidation process and complete it within prescribed timelines under IBC. Allowing the assignment of debt by a creditor under liquidation process to a third party would lead to Pareto improvement in allocation of resources in the economy, and it would benefit the stakeholders involved in the liquidation process by providing them with an additional option of exit at an earlier stage. NRRAs are those assets that require an indefinite time for their realisation on account of the peculiar nature of such assets or special circumstances. Such assets fall in the category of sundry debts, including refunds from Government and its agencies; contingent receivables; disputed receivables; sub juice receivables and disputed assets (where for example legal ownership is not clear) and assets underlying avoidance transactions. Both in terms of value and time, NRRA remain the realm of uncertainty. Presence of such assets in the kitty is detrimental to the attainment of the objective of time-bound closure of the liquidation process as envisaged under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

•  The IBBI has notified The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Act, 2020, an Act further to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The amended legislation provides for temporary suspension of initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the Code. It replaces the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 promulgated in June this year. The Act provides that for defaults arising during the six months from the 25th of March this year, CIRP can never be initiated by either the Company or its creditors. A director or a partner may be held liable if despite knowing that insolvency proceedings cannot be avoided, he did not exercise due diligence in minimizing the potential loss to the creditors. This liability will occur if despite knowing that the insolvency proceedings cannot be avoided, the person did not exercise due diligence in minimizing the potential loss to the creditors. Further, the amendment Act shall be deemed to have come into force on the 5th day of June, 2020.

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has issued the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Annual Report) Amendment Rules, 2020 to further amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Annual Report) Rules, 2018. 

The following amendments have been done in Rule 4, which specifies the time schedule for the submission of the annual report has been substituted, with the dates for submission of the annual report referred to in rule 3 of annual accounts for audit leading to the issue of Audit Certificate by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and for submission to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for timely submission to the Parliament. Accordingly. the approved and authenticated annual accounts to be made available by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to the concerned Audit Office and commencement of an audit of annual accounts on June 30; Issue of the final Separate Audit Report (SAR) in English with Audit Certificate to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India on October 31 and submission of the annual report and audited accounts to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for it to be laid on the Table of the Parliament on December 31.

•  The IBBI has introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the Rajya Sabha to further amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. 

The Amendments proposed under the Bill includes a new Section 10A shall be inserted which specifies “Suspension of initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process” namely, No Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process can be initiated against the debtor for any default arising on or after March 25, 2020 for a period of six months or such further period, not exceeding one year from such date. Provided, no application shall ever be filing for default during the said period against the debtor. Further, a new sub-section Section 66(3) shall also be inserted namely, no application shall be filed by the Resolution Professional under sub-section (2) related to default against which the initiation of the insolvency resolution process is suspended as per Section 10A. The Bill shall be deemed to have come into force on June 5, 2020 and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 has been repealed.

•  IBBI has issued Guidelines for Appointment of Insolvency Professionals as Administrators under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Appointment of Administrator and Procedure for Refunding to the Investors) Regulations, 2018. 

The IBBI and the SEBI have mutually agreed upon to use a Panel of IPs for appointment as Administrators for effective implementation of the Regulations. The IBBI shall prepare a Panel of IPs keeping in view the requirements of SEBI and the Regulations and the SEBI shall appoint the IPs from the Panel as Administrators, as per their requirement in accordance with the Regulations. The panel shall be valid for six months and a new Panel will replace the earlier Panel every six months. The Panel shall have a Zone wise list of IPs. An IP will be included in the Panel against the Zone where his registered office (address as registered with the IBBI) is located. Further, it must also be explicitly understood that an IP in the Panel will be appointed as Administrator, at the sole discretion of SEBI and the submission of expression of interest in accordance with these guidelines, is an unconditional consent by the IP to act as Administrator in accordance with the Regulations. These guidelines will be reviewed by the IBBI, in consultation with the SEBI, from time to time. These Guidelines shall come into effect for appointments as Administrator with effect from 1st October 2020.

• IBBI has issued Guidelines on Use of Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers by the Registered Valuers in Valuation Reports. 

These Guidelines may be called the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Use of Caveats, Limitations and Disclaimers in Valuation Reports) Guidelines, 2020 and shall come into force in respect of valuation reports in respect of valuations completed by Registered Valuers (RVs) on or after 1st October, 2020. These Guidelines are divided into three sections, viz. the first section elaborates on the need for Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers in a valuation report; the second section provides a guidance note on the use of Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers, while the third section provides an illustrative list of Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers for each asset class provided in the Rules. These Guidelines provide guidance to the RVs in the use of Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers in the interest of credibility of the valuation reports. These also provide an illustrative list of the Caveats, Limitations, and Disclaimers which shall not be used in a valuation report. All Registered Valuers shall prepare valuations reports under rule 8 of the Rules in adherence to these Guidelines.

SEBI

• The SEBI has issued a circular for the Alternate Risk Management Framework applicable in case of near-zero and negative prices. 

Recently, globally the economy has hit the zero and the negative mark, which is why the Board decided to enable risk management framework and constituted a task force of clearing corporations and market participants so that the review of the risk management can take place. The SEBI has decided that Alternate risk management shall be applicable to all those commodities that have nature of having zero or negative prices. Further, the commodities shall be considered as prone to zero or negative prices, if all the commodities that need to be stored in physical markets and if the proper storage space is not provided shall be susceptible to causing environmental hazards or external implications and all then commodities that cannot be destroyed or disposed of easily i.e. their disposal may cause environmental damage or other such hazards. These Alternate Risk Management Guidelines shall be implemented within 60 days of the issue of such circular. 

•  The Securities and Exchange Board of India has modified certain rules related to mutual fund (MF) Schemes. 

SEBI has asked mutual funds to uniformly apply Net Asset Value (NAV) across schemes upon realisation of funds. The capital markets regulator also tightened rules on the processes that fund managers follow to buy shares. The new rules will become effective from January 1. Currently, mutual fund investors with cheque values of less than Rs 2 lakh per application get the NAV of the product on the same day of deposit. Those who invest more than Rs 2 lakh get the NAV of the day the fund house realised the cheque. This could be up to three days after the cheque is submitted. With the new rule, the capital markets regulator has now created a level playing field for all investors. The new circular requires that in addition to submitting the application before the cut off time, the money also has to reach the fund house on the same day to get that day’s NAV.

• The SEBI has issued a circular for collecting and reporting of margins by Trading Member (TM) and Clearing Member (CM) in the cash segment. 

A circular for the guidelines for the same was issued by SEBI on July 31, 2020. Further, the board has clarified the issues relating to the levy of penalty for the non-collection of the “other margins” on or before T+2 days from the clients by TM/CM. SEBI has clarified that if both the funds and securities have been paid within T+2 days, then there shall be no application of penalty or short funds arising thereof, if the early pay-in has been collected by the clearing corporation then all the short arising margins would have been deemed to be collected and if the clients are not paying the margins within T+2 days and the TM/CM fails to collect the margins within T+2 days, then the penalty shall be applicable.

•  The SEBI has issued a Consultation Paper, with a view to propose changes in the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 

Inter-alia to strengthen corporate governance practices and disclosure requirements, ease the compliance burden on listed entities harmonize with the Companies Act, 2013 and maintain consistency within the LODR Regulations. Subsequent to the implementation of the LODR Regulations, various changes have taken place in the regulatory landscape, like Amendments made to the Companies Act, 2013 and Issue of informal guidance/ interpretative letters regarding the interpretation of various provisions of the LODR Regulations. SEBI has felt a need to review and align the LODR Regulations with an intent to strengthen corporate governance practices and disclosure requirements; To ease the compliance burden on listed entities and Other amendments inter-alia to maintain consistency within the LODR Regulations, harmonize the LODR Regulations with the Companies Act. The comments/suggestions may be forwarded as per the format prescribed by SEBI to Mr. Pradeep Ramakrishnan, General Manager, at pradeepr@sebi.gov.in and other October 11, 2020.

•  SEBI has issued a circular for the operating guidelines for portfolio managers in International Financial Service Centres (IFSC). 

These guidelines shall be applicable to all the portfolio managers operating or setting up in IFSC. An application shall be filed by the portfolio managers along with the prescribed fees. A SEBI registered intermediary may provide portfolio management services if they fulfil the prescribed criteria. Further, all the residents outside India shall obtain a certificate from any other organization or institution in India which is accredited by the Financial Market regulator in that foreign jurisdiction. All applicants need to have a NISM certificate, net worth less than USD 750,000 and if the operations are being carried out by the subsidiary, then the net worth requirements shall be fulfilled by the subsidiary. The Portfolio managers operating in IFSC shall not accept funds or securities from the client having a net worth of less than USD 70,000. These funds shall be maintained in a separate account regulated by the RBI. The amount for registration for grant of the certificate shall be USD 15,000 and for the application, it shall be USD 1,500. The registration fee for three years for the grant of the certificate shall be USD 7,500.

• SEBI has released a circular on Automation of Continual Disclosures under Regulation 7(2) of SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015. 

SEBI has now decided to implement the system-driven disclosures for member(s) of promoter group and designated person(s) in addition to the promoter(s) and director(s) of the company (hereinafter collectively referred to as entities) under Regulation 7(2) of PIT Regulations. The system-driven disclosures shall pertain to trading in equity shares and equity derivative instruments i.e. Futures and Options of the listed company (wherever applicable) by the entities. The procedure for implementation of the system-driven disclosures is separately provided on the circular. The Depositories and Stock Exchanges shall make necessary arrangements such that the disclosures pertaining to PIT Regulations are disseminated on the websites of respective stock exchanges with effect from October 01, 2020. Further, the system would continue to run parallel with the existing system i.e. entities shall continue to independently comply with the disclosure obligations under PIT Regulations as applicable to them till March 31, 2021.

•  SEBI has issued a circular to add the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to the list of entities that can undertake e-KYC Aadhaar authentication. 

The regulator, in May had come out with a list of eight entities permitted to use e-KYC (Electronic-Know Your Customer) Aadhaar authentication. The Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL), National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), BSE, CDSL Ventures, NSDL Database Management, NSE Data, and Analytics, CAMS Investor Services and Computer Age Management Services were the eight entities that were allowed to use e-KYC Aadhaar authentication. Based on the recommendation by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and SEBI to undertake the Aadhaar authentication service of the UIDAI under Section 11A of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002. In view of the same, the National Stock Exchange of India Limited shall undertake Aadhaar authentication service of the UIDAI subject to compliance of the conditions as laid down in this regard. To provide the service, entities need to get registered with UIDAI as KYC user agency (KUA) and allow SEBI registered intermediaries or mutual fund distributors to undertake Aadhaar authentication in respect of their clients for the purpose of KYC.

•  SEBI has issued a Circular to fix March 31, 2021, as the cut-off date for re-lodgement of share transfer requests. 

Transfer of securities held in physical mode has been discontinued with effect from April 1, 2019, but investors have not been barred from holding shares in the physical form. SEBI, in March 2019, had clarified that transfer deeds lodged before the deadline of April 1, 2019, and rejected or returned due to deficiency in the documents may be re-lodge. It has been decided to fix March 31, 2021, as the cut-off date for re-lodgement of transfer deeds. Further, the shares that are re-lodged for transfer (including those requests that are pending with the listed company / RTA, as on date) shall henceforth be issued only in Demat mode.

The Foreign Contribution(Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 (FCRA)

•  The lower house of the Parliament, the Lok Sabha has cleared the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020. 

The Bill amends the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The Act regulates the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution by individuals, associations, and companies. The foreign contribution is the donation or transfer of any currency, security, or article (of beyond a specified value) by a foreign source under the Act, certain persons are prohibited to accept any foreign contribution. These include election candidates, editor or publisher of a newspaper, judges, government servants, members of any legislature, and political parties, among others. The Bill adds public servants (as defined under the Indian Penal Code) to this list. Further, the Bill adds that any person seeking prior permission, registration, or renewal of registration must provide the Aadhaar number of all its office bearers, directors, or key functionaries, as an identification document. In the case of a foreigner, they must provide a copy of the passport or the Overseas Citizen of India card for identification. The Bill further amends to state that foreign contribution must be received only in an account designated by the bank as “FCRA Account” in such a branch of the State Bank of India, New Delhi, as notified by the Central Government.  No funds other than the foreign contribution should be received or deposited in this account. 

FSSAI

•  The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a circular relating to Standardised List of Documents for FSSAI License. 

The Authorities have directed Licensing Authorities (State/Central) to stay away from seeking additional or irrelevant documents from FBOs leading to their avoidable harassment and undue delay in processing of applications. The Kind of Business (KoB) wise documents as uploaded on the homepage of FLRS/FoSCoS should be followed by licensing authorities in all States/UTs. Since the requirement of uploading a signed copy of Form A (application for Registration) and Form B (application for License) by applicants has been done away, all applicants are now therefore required to upload all documents mandatorily self-attested by the authorized proprietor. In case of a prerequisite condition of additional document requirement for grant of FSSAI License by a local body or a State or UT, the same shall be communicated to the public through a public order.

•  The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an Order to waive off the penalties imposed on Food Business Operators (FBO) during the Covid-19 pandemic due to non-submission of Annual or Half-yearly returns (Form D1 and D2 respectively) in previous years. 

Earlier FSSAI had extended the date of submission of Form D1 (Annual returns) for the financial year 2019-20 and Form D2 (Half yearly returns) for October 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to September 2020 till December 31, 2020. Upon requests received from FBOs, the FSSAI has now decided to not count the period of March 22, 2020, to December 31, 2020, for further accumulation of penalties under Clause 2.1.13(3) of FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011 due to non-submission of returns of previous financial years.

Labour Laws

•  The Lok Sabha has passed three Bills that complete the government’s codification of 29 labour laws into four codes, with the Rajya Sabha passing the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Social Security Code, 2020. 

The three Bills that merge 25 laws were passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The first, of the four codes proposed by the government, the Code on Wages, was passed by Parliament in 2019. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, seeks to amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of the persons employed in an establishment. The second bill, The Industrial Relations Code 2020, aims at amending the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation, and settlement of industrial disputes and the third bill, The Code on Social Security, 2020 seeks to amend the laws relating to the social security of the employees in the country.

NCLT

•  The NCLT has further notified that the Regular Proceedings at NCLT shall now start from 01-10-2020 instead of 07-09-2020. 

The regular proceedings at NCLT Delhi were stopped immediately after the lockdown was announced on 24-03-2020. The NCLT has earlier decided and fixed the dates of hearings for Principal Bench and for all its New Delhi Benches (Court No. II, III, IV, V & VI) effective from 15-06-2020 which was re-notified from 01-07-2020, 20-07-2020, 05-08-2020, 20-08-2020 and 07-09-2020. However, NCLT has now decided that all matters listed for 07-09-2020, 08-09-2020 shall now be held on 01-10-2020, 05-10-2020, 06-10-2020 respectively, and so on. All stakeholders are requested to take note of the same.
 

 

Disclaimer: Information in this note is intended to provide only a general update of the subjects covered. It is not intended to be a substitute for detailed research or the exercise of professional judgment. KNM accepts no responsibility for loss arising from any action taken or not taken by anyone using this publication. Updates are for the period 26.08.2020 till 25.09.2020.

Prepared by

KNM MANAGEMENT ADVISORY SERVICES PVT. LTD.

E-mail: services@knmindia.com

Web site: www.knmindia.com