Q.Explain the statutory and administrative functions of a Company Secretary.

A Company Secretary's statutory duties keep the company compliant with the Companies Act, while the administrative duties keep the secretarial office itself running day to day.

Statutory duties (owed to the law and regulators):

1. Ensuring the company complies with the Companies Act and related regulations — filing the Annual Return and financial statements with the Registrar of Companies, and maintaining statutory registers such as the register of members and register of directors.
2. Ensuring proper notice, quorum, and procedure are followed for Board Meetings, the Annual General Meeting (AGM), and any Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).
3. Signing documents and certificates that the Companies Act specifically requires the Company Secretary to sign or countersign.

Administrative duties (running the secretarial office):

1. Managing the company's official correspondence, both incoming and outgoing.
2. Acting as custodian of the company's records, registers, and (where the company still maintains one) its common seal.
3. Liaising with external authorities — the Registrar of Companies, SEBI, and the stock exchanges, in the case of a listed company. …

Blurring statutory and administrative duties into one undifferentiated list — examiners specifically test whether a student can separate ' …