Secretarial Practice · Ch 12 — Correspondence with Statutory Authorities
The Registrar of Companies — Role and the Forms Filed With It
The Registrar of Companies — Role and the Forms Filed With It
The Registrar's Continuing Role After Incorporation
The Registrar of Companies is best remembered from the Formation of a Company chapter as the authority that issues the Certificate of Incorporation. That is only the Registrar's first act in a relationship with the company that continues for as long as the company exists. After incorporation, the Registrar's office is where the company records — by law, not by choice — every significant change and every periodic disclosure the Companies Act, 2013 requires: its annual return, changes to its registered office or name, certain resolutions it passes, and returns of any shares it allots, among others.
Electronic Filing — the MCA21 Portal
Virtually all correspondence with the Registrar today is filed electronically, in a prescribed e-form, through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' MCA21 portal, authenticated with the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) of an authorised director, the Company Secretary, or another authorised officer, as the specific form requires. Once a form is successfully uploaded and the prescribed fee paid, the portal generates a Service Request Number (SRN) — the unique reference number for that specific filing, which the company must quote in any covering letter or follow-up correspondence about it, and retain as its own proof of having filed on time.
The Key Forms a Std XI Student Should Know
| Form | What it is filed for | Governing provision | Time limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| MGT-7 / MGT-7A | Annual Return | Section 92 | Within 60 days of the AGM |
| INC-22 | Notice of the situation (or change) of the registered office | Section 12(4) | Within 30 days of the change |
| INC-23 | Application to the Regional Director for shifting the registered office to another state, or to another ROC's jurisdiction within the same state | Section 12(5) / Section 13(4) | Before the change can be effected |
| INC-24 | Application for the Central Government's (Registrar's) approval of a change of the company's name | Section 13(2) | Before the new name can be used |
| MGT-14 | Filing of specified resolutions and agreements | Section 117 | Within 30 days of passing |
| PAS-3 | Return of Allotment of shares/securities | Section 39(4) / Section 42(9) | Within 30 days of allotment (15 days for a private placement) |
Each of these is covered in its own right later in this chapter. What ties them together is the same underlying discipline: a prescribed form, a prescribed time limit counted from a specific event, and a covering letter or online submission that must correctly identify the company (by its Corporate Identity Number, or CIN) and, once filed, the filing itself (by its SRN).
The Covering Letter to the Registrar …
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs' electronic filing portal through which companies file statutory forms with the Registrar of Companies, authenticated by a D …
The unique reference number the MCA21 portal generates for each successfully filed form, which the company must quote in any related correspondence and retai …