Advocates enrolled with Bar Council must be allowed to register as professionals on the MCA portal for Co. registration
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Advocates enrolled with Bar Council must be allowed to register as professionals on the MCA portal for Co. registration: HC
Case Details: Shikha Sharma Bagga v. Union of India
Citation: [2021] 124 taxmann.com 353 (Delhi)
In this significant ruling, the Delhi High Court held that Advocates enrolled with Bar Council must be allowed to register as professionals on the MCA portal for Co. registration.
A petition was filed before the Delhi High Court challenging the non-providing of a field for Advocates to register companies and LLPs on the current Ministry of Corporate Affairs (‘MCA’) portal. The petitioner case was that the MCA portal permitted Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost & Work Accountants to register as practising professionals and undertake incorporation of companies and LLPs for their clients and pursuant to an amendment in Companies Act, 2013 in 2014, even Advocates were permitted to file documents for incorporation of companies but said the amendment was not implemented in the tool kit, which was used by MCA. As a result, Advocates could not register companies/LLPs on behalf of their clients.
“A perusal of Section 7(1) (b) of the Companies Act, 2013, clearly shows that Advocates can file documents for incorporation of a Company. This would be true even in the case of LLPs. However, the MCA’s portal is stated to have no provision made for Advocates who are members of Bar Councils and Bar Councils are not provided as an option in the list of Councils. If this is the position, the same would be discriminatory qua Advocates and would need to be rectified,” said Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court held that advocates could file documents for incorporation of a company, and this would be true even in the case of LLPs, and, therefore, the amendment was to be carried out in the MCA tool kit permitting Advocates who are enrolled with Bar Council to register as professionals in MCA portal.