CHAPTER 2 - INSTITUTE OF COMPANY SECRETARIES OF INDIA

Incorporation of the Institute.

3. (1) All persons whose names are entered in the Register of the dissolved company immediately before the commencement of this Act and all persons who may hereafter have their names entered in the Register to be maintained under this Act, so long as they continue to have their names borne on the Register to be maintained under this Act, are hereby constituted a body corporate by the name of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and all such persons shall be known as members of the Institute.

(2) The Institute shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and shall have power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, movable or immovable and shall by its name sue or be sued.

Entry of names in the Register.

4. (1) Any of the following persons shall be entitled to have his name entered in the Register, namely:-

(a) any person who immediately before the commencement of this Act was an Associate or a Fellow (including an Honorary Fellow) of the dissolved company;

(b) any person who is a holder of the Diploma in Company Secretaryship awarded by the Government of India;

(c) any person who has passed the examinations conducted by the dissolved company and has completed training either as specified by the dissolved company or as prescribed by the Council, except any such person who is not a permanent resident of India.,

(d) any person who has passed such examination and completed such training, as may be prescribed for membership of the Institute;

(e) any person who has passed such other examination and completed such other training without India as is recognised by the Central Government or the Council as being equivalent to the examination and training prescribed under this Act for membership of the Institute:

Provided that in the case of any person belonging to any of the classes mentioned in this sub-section who is not permanently residing in India, the Central Government or the Council may impose such further conditions as it may deem to be necessary or expedient in the public interest.

(2) Every person belonging to the class mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall have his name entered in the Register without the payment of any entrance fee.

(3) Every person belonging to any of the classes mentioned in clauses (c), (d) and (e) of sub-section (1) shall have his name entered in the Register on application being made and granted in the prescribed manner and on payment of prescribed entrance fee, which shall not exceed four hundred rupees in any case.

(4) The Central Government may take such steps as may be necessary for the purpose of having the names of all persons belonging to the classes mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) entered in the Register at the commencement of this Act.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Council may confer on any person Honorary Fellow Membership, if the Council is of the opinion that such person has made a significant contribution to the profession of Company Secretaries and thereupon the Council shall enter the name of such person in the Register but such person shall not have any voting rights in any election or meetings of the Institute and shall not also be required to pay any fee to the Institute.

Associates and Fellows.

5. (1) The members of the Institute shall be divided into two classes designated respectively as Associates and Fellows.

(2) Any person other than a person to whom the provisions of sub-section (4) apply, shall, on his name being entered in the Register, be deemed to have become an Associate and as long as his name remains so entered, shall be entitled to use the letters "A.C.S." after his name to indicate that he is an Associate.

(3) A person, being an Associate who has been in continuous practice in India as a Company Secretary for at least five years and a person who has been an Associate for a continuous period of not less than five years and who possesses such qualifications or practical experience as the Council may prescribe with a view to ensuring that he has experience equivalent to the experience normally acquired as a result of continuous practice for a period of five years as a Company Secretary shall, on payment of the prescribed entrance fee, which shall not exceed four hundred rupees in any case, and on application made and granted in the prescribed manner, be entered in the Register as a Fellow.

Explanation I: For the purposes of this sub-section, a person shall be deemed to have practised in India for any period for which he has held a certificate of practice under section 6, notwithstanding that he did not actually practise during that period.

Explanation II: In computing the period during which a person has been an Associate of the Institute, there shall be included any continuous period during which the person has been an Associate of the dissolved company immediately before he became an Associate of the Institute.

(4) Any person who was a Fellow of the dissolved company and who is entitled to have his name entered in the Register under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 4, shall be entered in the Register as a Fellow.

(5) Any person whose name is entered in the Register as a Fellow shall, so long as his name remains so entered, be entitled to use the letters "F.C.S.' after his name to indicate that he is a Fellow.

Certificate of practice.

6. (1) No member of the Institute shall be entitled to practise, whether in India or elsewhere, unless he has obtained from the Council a certificate of practice.

(2) A member who desires to be entitled to practise shall make an application in such form and pay such annual fee, for his certificate as may be prescribed which shall not exceed two hundred rupees in any case, and such fee shall be payable on or before the 1st day of April in each year.

Members to be known as Company Secretaries.

7. Every member of the Institute in practice shall, and any other member may, use the designation of a Company Secretary and no member using such designation shall use, any other description, whether in addition thereto or in substitution therefor:

Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit any such member from adding any other description or letters to his name if entitled thereto, to indicate membership of such other institute whether ill India or elsewhere as may be recognised in this behalf by the Council, or any other qualification that he may possess, or to prohibit a firm, all the partners 0~ which are members of the Institute and in practice, from being known by . its firm name as Company Secretaries.

Disabilities.

8. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 4, a person shall not be entitled to have his name entered in, or borne on, the Register if he-

(a) has not attained the age of twenty-one years at the time of his application for the entry of his name in the Register; or

(b) is of unsound mind and stands so adjudged by a competent court; or

(c) is an undischarged insolvent; or

(d) being a discharged insolvent, has not obtained from the court a certificate stating that his insolvency was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part; or

(e) has been convicted by a competent court, whether within or without India, of an offence involving moral turpitude and punishable with imprisonment or of an offence, not of a technical nature, committed by him in his professional capacity unless in respect of the offence committed he has either been granted a pardon or, on an application made by him in this behalf, the Central Government has, by an order. in writing, removed the disability; or

(f) has been removed from membership of the Institute on being found on inquiry to have been guilty of professional or other misconduct:

Provided that a person who has been removed from membership for a specified period shall not be entitled to have his name entered in the Register until the expiry of such period.