Bill letting accounting pros form LLPs soon

The government is set to introduce Bills to amend existing laws governing chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries 
in the current Budget session, a senior government official said. The proposed amendments will allow registration of large size consultancy firms in India. 

“We are hopeful that the three Acts would be placed for amendment in this Budget session,” ministry of corporate affairs secretary R Bandyopadhyay said. The three acts are; the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Act, the institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Act and the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) Act. 

The amendments will remove the hurdles that come in way for members of ICAI, ICSI and ICWAI to jointly form Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs). These amendments will enable formation of LLPs comprising professionals from different fields. “Right now professional bodies are not able to form LLPs because of certain clauses in respective Acts,” he said. 

The Budget session, started on Monday, will end on May 7. 

The government may also introduce two important Bills related to the health and pharmaceutical sectors in the current session, an official in the health ministry said. 

“The National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) Bill and the Clinical Establishments (Registration & Regulation) Bill,” is expected to be introduced in the Parliament in this session,” he said requesting anonymity. 

The NBRA Bill proposes to set up an independent, autonomous statutory body to ensure health and bio-safety while the Clinical Establishments Bill aims at making registration of all clinical establishments mandatory to enforce quality standards in healthcare delivery, he said. The Bill replaces an earlier proposal — the Clinical Establishments (registration and regulation) Bill 2007. The scope of the new draft legislation also covers diagnostic services and research & development (R&D) facilities while undertaking up clinical trials. 

“Several other Bills, pending to be introduced in the Parliament, could also be tabled,” he said. They are the HIV/AIDS Bill, Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Subjects Bill, the Central Drug Authority (CDA) Bill and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, he added. 

Economic Times, New Delhi, 25-02-2010.