There was a time when corporates used to consider compliance of laws as a burden, gone are the days, now corporates consider it as its responsibility. In the past, there was not proper guidance system, due to which corporates couldn’t comply with regulatory requirements. But now picture has been changed and with the passes of time, guidance system has been developed. Now corporates are complying all the legislations applicable on it with the help of professionals and with the help of compliance tool/software available in the market.

Besides earning profit, the objective of organisations should be to take care of the interest of the stakeholders and to ensure the protection of interest of stakeholders, various laws are being implemented by Government. Complying with regulatory requirements should not be considered as burden rather it is a responsibility of corporates towards community and the society.

J R D Tata the Chairman of the Tata Group believed that, “to create good working conditions, to pay the best wages to its employees and provide decent housing to its employees are not enough for the industry, the aim of an industry should be to discharge its overall social responsibilities to the community and the society at large, where industry is located.

Laws are there to help the organisations to keep transparency and to get the contribution done towards the development of our nation. In this direction, Government of India is trying to make the Indian legal system more flexible and simple. The Central Government’s resolve to bring reform in the legal system of the country, to make it more accessible to the common man and to imbibe the principles of rule of law, has inter-alia, and began with the review of enactments which are obsolete, redundant and unnecessary. In fulfillment of this objective, the Central Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of laws and the legal system with a view to remove incoherent and redundant laws. A two-member Committee was constituted for review of obsolete laws for repeal. As per the committee India has total 2781 Central Acts lying on the Statute-Book as on 15th October, 2014 before two amendments came last year. Out of these 2781 Acts, Government of India has decided to repeal 1741 Acts. The Acts identified for repeal by the said Committee are categorized as-

(i) 777 Central Acts identified for repeal wholly or in part;
(ii) 83 Central Acts relating to State subjects to be repealed by State Legislatures;
(iii) 624 Central Appropriation Acts enacted up to the year 2010; and
(iv) 257 Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament for the States under President’s Rule to be repealed by such states.

And out of 1741 Acts 125 Acts have been repealed, 35 Acts by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 and 90 Acts by the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015 and 758 Acts are still in pipe line to be passed, for which a bill “Repealing and Amending (Third) Act, 2015” was presented in Lok Sabha on 13th May last year.

If we talk about manufacturing company, normally more than fifty enactments apply on it and on the other hand, in case of non-manufacturing company it attracts generally more than forty enactments. Corporates are to take care of regular compliance of these enactments. History is witness to the fact that all the organizations which have been adhering to compliance are enjoying the top position in corporate world.

CS Anuj Malik

Mr. Anuj Malik is a CS (Company Secretary) as well as law graduate (LL.B.). He is an associate member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for 9 years. He has-
• dealt with over a thousand of Indian laws (Including Central, State, and local) which are applicable to business corporations.
• dealt with over a thousand laws of 25+ countries (including USA, UK, China, France, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Ireland and so on).
• over 9 years of experience in identification and execution of regulatory compliances.
• over 9 years of experience in Compliance Management Tool (GRC Tool).
• over 9 years of experience in legal research and advisory.
• years of experience in preparation of legal content (including compliance checklists and compliance calendars)
He has been associated with Lexcomply for around 10 years and currently working as a Senior Manager- Global Compliance.