While the Prime Minister himself chose to directly address the citizens of the country on taking precautions to protect them from the Coronavirus, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has stepped in with its own sets of do’s and don’ts for businesses, according to a Livemint report.
In a communication from the Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Injeti Srinivas, has advised them to extend the work from home policy to as many employees as possible. The Secretary has urged that measures like work from home, videoconferencing, staggered work timings etc. to be followed. This is to ensure that work is being carried on, without employees having to come into contact with each other physically. The Ministry has also asked businesses to submit a compliance report. The format for this report, to be submitted online, will be sent by the Ministry on Monday, March 23.
Now, along with these instructions, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is also announcing some relaxations in the norms that could be followed by companies. Holding board meetings of companies till June 2020 will not be compulsory. Companies are required to hold periodical board meetings and send the decisions made to the Registrar of Companies which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Similarly, there is a provision that for approving financial statements of the company, physical presence of the directors is necessary. This is also being done away with temporarily. Businesses may have to find alternate ways of ensuring that the required number of directors go through the financial statements and accord their approvals electronically. More such relaxations may also come through in future.
Companies have, on their own, cut down on their executives’ non-essential travel.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has told the companies and LLPs to cooperate in the efforts at limiting the damage caused by the pandemic.