Hi Folks

“The persistent urge to respond to calls and office emails throughout the day, and even on weekends and holidays is causing stress, burnouts and sleeplessness in lakhs of urban working Indians,” writes Member of Parliament, Supriya Sule. “It is our right to lead happy, stress-free lives,” she adds. She has even introduced a Bill in Parliament to make the #RightToDisconnect a reality for every working Indian.

Well, you may wonder who is this MCA and what has it got to do with Right to Disconnect. Why am I singling out MCA this time ? MCA a la Ministry of Corporate Affairs is the ministry regulating corporates in India through the Companies Act, LLP Act and other legislations. While the Hon’ble MP quoted above feels employers are over-working employees beyond the normal 8-9 hours, what can we do when we are faced with dysfunctional web portals like www.mca.gov.in that keep hanging frequently, switch off completely on the crucial last day of some important filing and surprisingly spring back into mid-night action, forcing lakhs of professionals to stretch way into midnight or wake up very early in the morning to upload an e-form ?? What prescribed working hours are we talking here ?

The latest experience was the filing of e-form DPT3 (not worth explaining the purpose since the MCA is bombarding corporates and professionals with forms, deadlines, additional fee & penalties way too frequently) for which the last date was 29^th June, 2019. Since the time the form was introduced it has been confusion galore – with the drafting, with the interpretation on webinars, with so-called clarifications, with forms throwing up technical challenges, with conflicting views from different Registrars and what not. So much so that my whatsapp was flooded with messages from professionals venting their ire on the inefficiency of the portal and our own helplessness, torn as we are between uncooperative clients that give information late and dysfunctional MCA portal with no updates and no one to turn to. Thousands of manhours were lost and company secretaries were reduced to filing clerks praying earnestly for the ‘Almighty MCA portal’ to open its eyes and give us ‘darshan’. What hurt us more was that the same portal that froze on the last date for more than 24 hours, magically de-froze in the wee hours next day, promptly slapping additional fee on every form that was accepted. Revenue for the Government for the failure of its technology service provider ! Loss of faith for the corporates and professionals ! The frustration was so much that, otherwise seasoned and patient professional friends started calling this a ‘cancer that can be treated only with chemotherapy’. Unfortunately this is not the first time. Since the last 5-6 years, this is the plight with no signs of improvement.

As a cancer survivor, I can tell you bottled up stress is one of the reasons for cancer cells to grow. Therefore I encourage all the stressed out employers and employees to do whatever it takes to de-stress. Needless to say proper planning and prior communication to clients is a must – Is MCA listening ? Their officials need a lesson or two in drafting, planning, communication & technology readiness !!. On a lighter note, I am sure Company Secretaries participated in the International Yoga Day on 21st June and continued various “innovative postures and positions” throughout the next 10 days to make sure the MCA portal works. At least in my office they sat for hours, meditating with eyes wide open, without a blink, hoping to catch that elusive moment when the portal would function. They even sat in the same uncomfortable positions and used the same lucky laptop, missing out even on the loo-breaks, praying that the form will get accepted. But Lord MCA didn’t seem moved

While the above may seem an exaggeration, it is not. RBI has joined MCA’s bandwagon, suddenly changing the way the yearly FLA return needs to be filed by 15^th July. The tech process has changed and the announcement came only on 28^th June, leaving us with little time to communicate and ensure the clients give us information in time. Fellow Company Secretaries and staff, brace yourself for 2 more weekends ruined if the RBI portal behaves like MCA’s !!

From Right to Disconnect to Right to Connect (to a functioning portal!!) should be the slogan of compliance professionals. Before the maiden Big Budget from our Hon’ble Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman tomorrow, catch up with the few regulatory changes that took place in the last fortnight. Mrw is yet another day. Yet another sunrise with hopefully more economy fuelling announcements. In this 215^th issue of Samhita, the 16^th article on Mediation (Mediation in Taxation) is contributed by a leading tax advocate, Ms. Rukmani Menon. For any previous issues of Samhita and the readers feedback, please visit https://sharadasc.com/resource-center/

Happy Reading