DCA draws up strategic action plan

COIMBATORE: The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) was in the process of formulating a strategic action plan to improve its functioning to achieve the goal of good corporate governance, a top Union government official said on Thursday.
The DCA has already prepared a draft plan in this regard to be circulated among registrars of companies, corporates, and the process would be completed within two months Vinod Dhall, secretary, Department of Company Affairs, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company affairs, told reporters here.
The agenda included good corporate governance, relationship between auditors and management, the role of company secretaries, audit system and the need to strengthen the role of non-executive independent directors, Dhall said.
Earlier, addressing the members of various associations like chamber of commerce and industry, stock exchange and chartered accountants, Dhall said that DCA was more concerned about the issues in the corporate world and wanted to usher in an era of good governance, where it commands respect, credibility and confidence of investors, not only in domestic but also in the global business community.
The department was seriously pursuing to trace the people behind the vanishing companies and prosecute them under most serious sections like fraud and cheating, with imprisonment as punishment, he said.
However, he expressed regrets that penalties under the Companies Act were too small, because they were not acting as deterrent, which indirectly motivate others to violate the law.