Extension of compliance date under companies board meetings rules postpones expiry of a transitional provision.
Amendment substitutes the operative date in rule 4(2) of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014, extending the period for the transitional application specified in that sub rule. The change is effected under sections 173, 177, 178 and 186 read with section 469 of the Companies Act, 2013, and the amendment comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Name reservation extension: Registrar may extend reserved company names on payment of prescribed fees via SPICe+.
The amendment adds rule 9A enabling the Registrar to extend a reserved company name period through SPICe+ (INC-32) upon payment of prescribed fees, subject to staged extension intervals and the Registrar's power to cancel a reserved name under the Act. It also substitutes Part-A of SPICe+ to require company type, class, category, industrial activity, a summary of objects and provision for supporting documents for name reservation.

Form SH-7 revised: updated notice form for alteration of company share capital under corporate rules.
The amendment replaces the annexure Form SH-7 in the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014 with a revised Form SH-7 to be used for notice to the Registrar of alterations of a company's share capital under the Companies Act, 2013, and provides for its short title and commencement as the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Second Amendment Rules, 2020.

Commencement of Companies Amendment Act provisions confirmed; specified sections designated to come into force on appointed date.
The Central Government, by ministerial notification under section 1(2) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020, appoints an appointed date on which specified sections and clauses of the Act shall come into force, listing the discrete provisions to be commenced and thereby initiating implementation of those legislative amendments.

Proficiency self-assessment exemption expanded: longer compliance period and service-based exemptions for experienced directors in corporate appointments.
Rule 6 is amended to extend the time to comply with the online proficiency requirement and to exempt individuals who have accrued a specified period of qualifying service as directors or key managerial personnel in listed companies, certain unlisted companies, specified foreign or overseas entities, statutory corporations, or who have held defined senior pay-scale positions in central ministries or senior regulatory grades, with concurrent service across entities counted only once; an explanatory proportionate measure is also reduced.

Effective date postponement of auditor's report order: applicability deferred to 1st April 2021 for audit reporting requirements.
Amendment to the Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2020 replaces the date in paragraph 2, substituting the earlier applicability date with the later specified date, thereby deferring the commencement of the auditor reporting requirements; the Order is made under the powers of sub section (11) of section 143 of the Companies Act and comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Corporate action transfers of dematerialised minority shares: statutory procedure mandates notice, depository transfer, and payment to shareholders.
The amendment defines corporate action to cover transfers and attendant share benefits and inserts Rule 26A prescribing procedures for purchase of minority shareholding in demat form under section 236. The company must verify demat holdings, serve and publish notice of a cut-off date, notify the depository with prescribed declarations, authorise an officer to coordinate transfers, effect depository transfers into a designated DEMAT account on the cut-off date, immediately disburse consideration to minority shareholders after deducting and paying stamp duty, and then instruct transfer of shares to the acquirer; specified exceptions apply.

Designation of Special Courts for trial of Companies Act offences in SEBI-filed cases across three states.
The Central Government, under sub section (1) of section 435 of the Companies Act, 2013, designates specified courts in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu as Special Courts for trial of offences under the Companies Act in cases filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, listing the Mumbai City Civil and Sessions Courts, the 5th Special Court, Calcutta, and the Principal Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai as the designated forums.

Qualified institutional buyers resolution: companies may pass a single annual special resolution for all allotments to QIBs.
The amendment to rule 14(1) of the Companies (Prospectus and Allotment of Securities) Rules, 2014 provides that for offers or invitations to qualified institutional buyers, a company need only pass a previous special resolution once a year to cover all allotments to such buyers during that year, with the rules commencing on publication in the Gazette.

Deadline extension for board meeting rule prolongs the compliance date under Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules.
The Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Third Amendment Rules, 2020 substitute the date specified in rule 4(2) of the 2014 Rules with a later date, made under the Central Government's rulemaking authority derived from the Companies Act, and provide that the amendment shall come into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Director appointment timeline extended to thirteen months under Companies Rules, effective on publication in the Official Gazette.
Amendment to the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 substitutes the words ten months with thirteen months in rule 6(1)(a), made under sections 149 and 469 of the Companies Act, 2013, titled the Fourth Amendment Rules, 2020, and effective from publication in the Official Gazette.

Staff Car Driver recruitment rules set appointment, deputation and service conditions including pay alignment and medical entitlements.
Rules prescribe recruitment, pay matrix level and service conditions for the post of Staff Car Driver in the Appellate Tribunal, deem incumbents from predecessor bodies as duly appointed, and authorize appointments by the Appointing Authority. Direct recruitment requires all India advertisement and professional agency processing; deputation/absorption is permitted with selection by a Departmental Committee and absorption contingent on option and parent department consent. Conditions of service reference Central Government norms for pay, allowances, provident fund and pension, with specified medical and housing entitlements in Schedule II.

Company law reform: committee to review corporate offences and recommend recategorization and procedural compliance improvements.
A Company Law Committee has been constituted, chaired by the Secretary, MCA, with non-official members and a Member Secretary, to examine implementation of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. Its terms include recommending re-categorization of certain offences as civil wrongs, exploring settlement mechanisms including deferred prosecution agreements, reviewing the LLP framework, proposing measures to de-clog the NCLT, addressing bottlenecks affecting statutory bodies, and identifying amendments and Form revisions to enhance Ease of Doing Business; the Committee has a one-year initial tenure and may co-opt experts and stakeholders.

Acceptance of deposits period extended to ten years, amending Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules and statutory cross reference.
The amendment increases the time-period reference for acceptance of deposits from five years to ten years in rule 2(1)(c)(xvii) and in rule 3(3) (second proviso, clause (i)), and substitutes an earlier G.S.R. citation in the Explanation to rule 2(1)(c)(xvii) with a later G.S.R. citation.

Commencement of clause (ii) of section 23: provision appointed into force on 28 August 2020 under section 1(2) powers.
The government appointed 28 August 2020 as the date on which clause (ii) of section 23 of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017 shall come into force, by a Ministry of Corporate Affairs notification exercising the Act's commencement power under its enabling provision and recording the formal notification reference and signatory.

Disclosure of annual return web link allows companies to omit attaching the Form MGT.9 extract in the Board's report.
The amendment to rule 12(1) provides that a company shall not be required to attach the extract of the annual return in Form No. MGT.9 with the Board's report where the web link of such annual return has been disclosed in the Board's report in accordance with the statute, thereby substituting attachment with web link disclosure.

Corporate Social Responsibility: firms may undertake pandemic-related vaccine and medical device R&D in course of business with collaboration and disclosure.
The 2020 amendment permits companies engaged in research and development of new vaccines, drugs and medical devices to undertake COVID-19 related R&D as CSR during financial years 2020-21 to 2022-23 if conducted in collaboration with institutes specified in Schedule VII and separately disclosed in the Annual CSR Report; it also omits the exclusion for activities in the normal course of business from rule 4(1) and makes specified textual deletions to rule 6(1).

CSR scope expanded to cover government-funded incubators, public research institutions and specified bodies for STEM research promoting sustainable development.
Amendment to Schedule VII substitutes item (ix) to permit CSR contributions to incubators and R&D projects in science, technology, engineering and medicine funded by the Central or State Governments, public sector undertakings or their agencies, and to contributions to public funded universities, IITs, national laboratories and specified autonomous research bodies and councils engaged in STEM research aimed at promoting Sustainable Development Goals, effective from publication in the Official Gazette.

Inquiry procedure for misbehavior or incapacity provides committee review, judge-led inquiry, medical examination and suspension.
Procedural rules provide that complaints of misbehavior or incapacity are preliminarily scrutinised by the Central Government, referred to a three-member Committee for investigation, and-if reasonable grounds exist-referred by the President to a senior Judge nominated by the Chief Justice to conduct a formal inquiry. The Judge, guided by natural justice, receives charges, evidence and defence, may order medical examination by a Presidential Medical Board where incapacity is alleged, and submits a detailed report to the President; suspension pending inquiry and subsistence allowance are also governed by these rules.

Special Court designation enables speedy trial of specified offences under the Companies Act in prescribed territorial jurisdiction.
The Central Government, exercising powers under the Companies Act and with High Court concurrence, designates the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (M) at Guwahati as a Special Court to provide expedited trial of offences specified under the Act within the State of Assam, recording the statutory basis and territorial jurisdiction of the designation.