Lok Sabha Question No. 3532 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-11
Subject: Reduction in Pending Prosecutions
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Anup Sanjay Dhotre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3532 ANSWERED ON MONDAY, 11 th , August, 2025 Sravana 20, 1947 (Saka)

Reduction in Pending Prosecutions.

## QUESTION

3532   Shri Anup Sanjay Dhotre:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) Whether the Government has taken any steps to reduce the burden of pending prosecutions under the Companies Act;
- (b) if so, the details thereof including the number of cases withdrawn so far; and
- (c)  the steps taken by the Government to improve ease of doing business and strengthen corporate governance in the country?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS.

(SHRI. HARSH MALHOTRA)

a) & (b) : The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has taken several steps to review pending prosecutions in various courts. In 2017 and later in 2022, a committee of senior  officers  of  MCA  was  set  up  to  give  recommendations regarding  withdrawal  of  prosecutions.  The  objective  was  to  free  Judicial Courts from dealing with offences that are procedural and technical in nature to ensure that courts are able to focus on serious offences. It was envisaged that  cases  of  procedural  and  technical  nature  may  be  handled  through  an adjudication process.

(contd.2..)

Accordingly,  14,247  prosecutions  were  withdrawn  in  Special  Drive-I conducted in 2017. Further, a decision has been taken for withdrawal of 7,338 compoundable cases identified in Special Drive-II in 2023. Till 30.6.2025, 6267 cases have been withdrawn from various courts.

(c): To improve ease of doing business and enhance corporate governance, Ministry has taken several steps in the recent past including some major steps as under:-

- (i) Decriminalization of 63 offences under the Companies and LLP Acts. One of the objectives of decriminalization has also been reduction of litigation burden  in  judicial  courts  and  shifting  the  prosecution  cases  towards adjudication;
- (ii) Setting up of a Centralized Registrar of Companies  (CRC)  for incorporation;
- (iii) Setting up of a Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (CPACE) for voluntary exit of companies;
- (iv) Setting up of a Central Scrutiny Centre (CSC) for centralised scrutiny of e-Forms filed under Straight Through Process (STP);
- (v)  Conversion  of  more  than  50  forms  to  STP  which  earlier  required approval of field offices;
- (vi)  Setting  up  of  a  Central  Processing  Centre  (CPC)  for  centralised processing of specified non-STP e-forms;

(vii) Introducing a new e-Form SPICe+ along with a linked form called AGILE PRO-S  for  providing  different  services  at  one  place  such  as  Name Reservation, Incorporation, allotment of PAN, TAN, DIN, EPFO Registration, ESIC Registration, GST number, opening of Bank Account etc. at the time of incorporation of company to start the business immediately. Similarly, new e Form FiLLiP (Form for incorporation of Limited Liability Partnership) was  introduced  for  providing  the  same  services  for  Limited  Liability Partnerships in a single application;

(viii) Definition of small companies has been amended by increasing the threshold limit of a small company, having a paid-up capital not exceeding

(contd.3..)

Rs.  4.00  Crore  and  turnover  not  exceeding  Rs  40.00  Crore.  Similarly, concept  of  small  LLP  has  been  introduced  which  is  subject  to  lesser compliances, lesser fee to reduce the cost of compliances; (ix)  Zero  fee  for  incorporation of company with authorized capital up to Rs.15.00 Lakh; (x)  Extended  fast  track  process  for  mergers  under  the  Companies  Act, 2013 to include mergers of Startups with other Startups and with small companies, so that the process of mergers & amalgamations is expedited; (xi) Convening Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of a company through Video Conference (VC); (xii) Zero cost for shifting of the registered office of a company; (xiii)  The  Ministry  has  issued  Companies  (Listing  of  Equity  Shares  in Permissible Jurisdictions) Rules, 2024 allowing Indian public companies to list their equity shares on international stock exchange(s) at GIFT IFSC.

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