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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Attempts Being Made to Dilute Anti-Corruption Laws, AP Shah Writes to Modi -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Attempts Being Made to Dilute Anti-Corruption Laws, AP Shah Writes to Modi -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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published Published on Aug 2, 2018   modified Modified on Aug 2, 2018
-TheWire.in

The letter by the former Delhi chief justice highlights the dangers of decriminalising the Companies Act, introducing electoral bonds, weakening the RTI Act and not implementing of the Lokpal Act and Whistleblowers Protection Act.

New Delhi:
In a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former chief justice of Delhi high court and noted rights activist A.P. Shah has lamented that “instead of increasing transparency and accountability and making the deterrents for the wrong doers far more stiff, an attempt is being made to dilute various legislations which could result in a spurt in corporate offences especially”.

Writing to the PM in his capacity as chairman of Citizens Whistle Blowers Forum, Shah, who had also served as Chairman of the Law Commission, in his letter pointed out that “any campaign against corruption can become effective only when there is a basic change in the mindset of the government in favour of greater transparency and accountability through civil society participation at all levels of decision taking, devolution of authority and decentralisation of governance”.

Representing a forum whose other founder members include social activist Aruna Roy, former finance secretary E.A.S. Sarma, founder of Association for Democratic Reforms Jagdeep Chhokar, former admiral L. Ramdas, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, and the first chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, Shah also called for “strengthening of the democratic processes in every sphere of activity of the government” and noted that “bits and pieces of legislation without an overarching objective” would not deliver.

‘Proposed decriminalisation of the Companies Act, 2013, will only take away with deterrence’

In the letter, Shah goes deep into the proposed decriminalisation of the Companies Act, 2013, and. In this regard, he said the 2013 Act had “promised to usher in a new era in corporate governance”. Referring to how the “Satyam” case, the “largest accounting fraud in the history of India”, had led to the need for strict compliance of the Act, he said “Section 447 was introduced in the Act to deal severely with cases of fraud”.

Stating that at a time when cases like “Kingfisher Airlines and United Spirits (Vijay Mallya Group), Nirav Modi, Mehul Chokso, Fortis healthcare, etc.” have come to light and the non performing assets (NPAs) of banks are at an all-time high of about Rs 10 lakh crore, the Companies Act, which was expected to arrest any further decay of the system, is “ironically proposed to be decriminalised, that too with undue haste”.

Shah said the corporate affairs ministry has, through a notification dated July 13, 2018, formed a committee to review the punishment prescribed for various offences under the Companies Act, 2013, and the panel is to submit its recommendations within 30 days.

He said while most of the offences are any way compoundable, the committee has to evaluate if existing compoundable offences can be treated as mere “civil offences” and if the existing non-compoundable offences can be categorised as “compoundable offences”.

Shah cautioned Modi that “if implemented, the Act will be severely diluted and the much needed deterrent of criminal punishment will be done away with.” As such, he demanded that “this must not be allowed to happen in the larger public interest.” He also demanded that the ministry of corporate affairs put on hold the decriminalisation of the Companies Act and hold public deliberations for strengthening the Act.

He also demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) file an appeal against the orders of the Sessions Court in the Satyam scam to restore public confidence in the rule of law.

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TheWire.in, 31 July, 2018, https://thewire.in/law/dilution-anti-corruption-laws-ap-shah-writes-to-modi


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