• Notification Date: 09-02-2023
• Notification No: N/A

MCA Considering Accepting Physical Submissions of some Forms due to V3 Portal Glitches

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is planning to accept submissions of some company forms in physical format after reports of glitches with its MCA21 portal, people privy to the developments told ET. 
 
The portal is used by companies to make regulatory filings, including form PAS-3, which they need to file before they can use funds raised from investors. 
 
This follows an interim order by the Kerala High Court, which asked the ministry to accept physical forms since its online system had “crashed”. 
 
Both listed and unlisted companies attempting to file regulatory documents had been facing issues with the MCA21 portal’s version 3 (V3) after the ministry transitioned 46 new forms to V3 from V2 on January 23. 
 
One of the significant glitches that companies faced pertained to form PAS-3, which must be filed when an entity makes a share allotment to an investor. 

“If we do not file PAS-3, we cannot receive funds in our bank accounts even after raising money from our investors. This could prevent some startups from carrying out daily expenses,” the founder of a startup said. 

New entities are also facing issues with filing incorporation documents on the MCA21 V3. 
The MCA did not respond to an email query. 
 
For companies that had a deadline of making the filings between January 20 and February 6, the MCA has extended that by 15 days without any additional fees. 
“Due to change in the way of filing in Version-3, including fresh process of registration of users on MCA21 and process of stabilisation of 45 forms launched with effect from January 23, 2023, and after considering various representations…it has been decided to allow further additional time of 15 days for filing of these forms, without additional fees, to the stakeholders,” according to an MCA circular. 

ET has reviewed a copy of this circular. 
 
The Kerala High Court delivered its verdict on a writ petition filed against the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Kerala and MCA by Muthoot Finance Ltd, which sought relief from the court to be able to make its filings physically. 

“...it is admitted that the online system has crashed and there is no other way than to receive the copy of the said documents physically,” it said in an interim order dated February 3. 

The government has sought time to file its statement. 
 
“The pendency of the writ petition will not stand in the way of the Ministry of Corporation (Corporate) Affairs, Union of India, New Delhi to take appropriate decision with respect to the receipt of documents in physical as well as in electronic form since the online system has crashed,” the order added. 

Detailing 18 technical issues with the latest version of the MCA21 portal, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) wrote a letter to MCA secretary Manoj Govil on February 2. The concerns raised pertained to the PAS-3 form, in addition to DIR-12 form, which is submitted to notify the MCA of appointment of directors and key managerial personnel, and any changes pertaining to these.