Govt Gives Relaxation To Companies In Filing Forms On Creation Of Charges

New Delhi, June 17: In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has relaxed the time period for corporates to submit forms related to creation or modification of charges.

Economic activities have been significantly disrupted due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Many companies are taking the debt route to raise funds amid the challenges due to the pandemic.

 "Creation of charge is crucial to such debts but registering such charges with the RoC (Registrar of Companies) by complying with deadlines falling during the haphazard period of lockdown posed a great challenge," Sandeep Jhunjhunwala, partner at Nangia Andersen LLP said.

 The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has now decided to condone the delay in filing of the forms under the companies law.

A scheme for relaxation of time for filing forms related to creation or modification of charges under the Companies Act, 2013, has been introduced following representations seeking relaxation in timelines, according to a circular issued on Wednesday.

Jhunjhunwala said a period of seven months from March 1 to September 30 has been relinquished by the ministry for computing the deadline of 30 days for filing the forms.

This would save domestic companies from an extra burden of filing for condonation of delay, he added.

Rajesh Thakkar, partner and leader/ transaction tax (tax and regulatory services) at consultancy BDO India, said that while the scheme is providing relief for delayed filing in respect of intimation for creation or modification of charge, no such relief is provided in respect of satisfaction of charge.