Q.Define 'Company Secretary' as per the Companies Act, 2013.

The Companies Act, 2013 does not create its own separate qualification for a Company Secretary — instead it borrows the definition already fixed by the profession's own regulating Act.

Section 2(24) of the Companies Act, 2013 defines a Company Secretary by cross-reference: it states that "Company Secretary" or "Secretary" means a company secretary as defined under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980, who is appointed by a company to perform the functions of a company secretary under the Companies Act, 2013. This definition has two limbs. The first limb fixes who is professionally qualified to be called a Company Secretary — that is governed entirely by the Company Secretaries Act, 1980, under which a person must be a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). The second limb fixes what makes a qualified person a "Company Secretary" in relation to a particular company — namely, being appointed by that company to perform the statutory functions of a company secretary under the Companies Act, 2013. In other words, professional qualification comes from one Act, and the statutory role/appointment comes from the other; a person must satisfy both to be a Company Secretary of a given company.

Students often give only a generic definition ("a person who manages meetings and records") without citing the actual statutory cross-reference to the Company Secretaries Act, 1980, which is the precise legal basis examiners look for.