Section 418A, 435, 441, 446B, 450, 452, 454, 465 of Companies Act 2020

Insertion of new section 418A

After section 418 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted,
namely:-

Section 418A Benches of Appellate Tribunal

"418A. (1) The powers of the Appellate Tribunal may be exercised by the Benches thereof to be constituted by the Chairperson:

Provided that a Bench of the Appellate Tribunal shall have at least one Judicial
Member and one Technical Member.

(2) The Benches of the Appellate Tribunal shall ordinarily sit at New Delhi or such other places as the Central Government may, in consultation with the Chairperson, notify:

Provided that the Central Government may, by notification, after consultation with the Chairperson, establish such number of Benches of the Appellate Tribunal, as it may consider necessary, to hear appeals against any direction, decision or order referred to in section 53A of the Competition Act, 2002 and under section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016."

Amendment to Section 435

In section 435 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "offences under this Act, by notification", the words and figures "offences under this Act, except under section 452, by notification" shall be substituted.

Amendment to Section 441

In section 441 of the principal Act, for sub-section (5), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-

"(5) If any officer or other employee of the company who fails to comply with any order made by the Tribunal or the Regional Director or any officer authorised by the Central Government under sub-section (4), the maximum amount of fine for the offence proposed to be compounded under this section shall be twice the amount provided in the corresponding section in which punishment for such offence is provided."

Substitution of new section for section 446B

For section 446B of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:-

Section 446B Lesser penalties for certain companies

'446B. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, if penalty is payable for non-compliance of any of the provisions of this Act by a One Person Company, small company, start-up company or Producer Company, or by any of its officer in default, or any other person in respect of such company, then such company, its officer in default or any other person, as the case may be, shall be liable to a penalty which shall not be more than one-half of the penalty specified in such provisions subject to a maximum of two lakh rupees in case of a company and one lakh rupees in case of an officer who is in default or any other person, as the case may be.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section,-

(a) "Producer Company" means a company as defined in clause (l) of section 378A;

(b) "start-up company" means a private company incorporated under this Act or under the Companies Act, 1956 and recognised as start-up in accordance with the notification issued by the Central Government in the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.'

Amendment to Section 450

In section 450 of the principal Act, for the words "punishable with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, and where the contravention is continuing one, with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for every day after the first during which the contravention continues", the words "liable to a penalty of ten thousand rupees, and in case of continuing contravention, with a further penalty of one thousand rupees for each day after the first during which the contravention continues, subject to a maximum of two lakh rupees in case of a company and fifty thousand rupees in case of an officer who is in default or any other person" shall be substituted".

Amendment to Section 452

In section 452 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-

"Provided that the imprisonment of such officer or employee, as the case may be, shall not be ordered for wrongful possession or withholding of a dwelling unit, if the court is satisfied that the company has not paid to that officer or employee, as the case may be, any amount relating to-

(a) provident fund, pension fund, gratuity fund or any other fund for the welfare of its officers or employees, maintained by the company;

(b) compensation or liability for compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 in respect of death or disablement."

Amendment to Section 454

In section 454 of the principal Act, in sub-section (3), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-

"Provided that in case the default relates to non-compliance of sub-section (4)
of section 92 or sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 137 and such default has been rectified either prior to, or within thirty days of, the issue of the notice by the adjudicating officer, no penalty shall be imposed in this regard and all proceedings under this section in respect of such default shall be deemed to be concluded."

Amendment to Section 465

In section 465 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),-

(a) the first proviso shall be omitted;

(b) in the second proviso, for the words "Provided further that", the words "Provided that" shall be substituted;