MCA site glitches: FM Nirmala Sitharaman reviews matter; MCA to form committee to address grievances

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

In response to scores of users complaining that they are facing technical glitches on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, the office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took cognisance of the same on February 14.

The glitches arose after 46 forms were moved to version 3 from version 2 of the website on January 23.

Companies have been struggling to submit regulatory filings on time due to uploading issues or errors on the website. Concerns are primarily around the PAS-3 form, which must be submitted whenever a company makes any allotment of securities, and forms such as the MGT-14, which must be filed when resolutions are passed.

.@MCA21India has been working along with @theicai, @icsi_cs, @LTIMindtreeOFCL and consultants (EY @EY_India and NISG @NISGsmartgov) to solve the matter expeditiously. (2/3)

— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) February 14, 2023

A tweet from the FM’s office said that MCA is working with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Institute of Corporate Secretaries of India, LTIMindtree, as well as consultants EY India and the National Institute for Smart Government.

“Minister of Corporate Affairs Smt @nsitharaman today reviewed the matter and has instructed the @MCA21India to form a special team to address public grievances on priority. The Minister has also directed @MCA21India to monitor the issues on a daily basis,” it said.

In response to queries from Moneycontrol, an LTIMindtree spokesperson said the portal is working fine.

"We wish to clarify that the state-of-the-art MCA21 portal is working fine. The latest version of the portal incorporates several critical controls and validations. Users must fully adapt to them for seamless regulatory filings. We are working closely with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on a phased rollout of the latest version. The portal has registered 1.6 million filings in the last one year alone, far higher than the number for the corresponding period of last year," a statement said.

On February 7, the MCA had said in a circular that due to a change in the way of filing in this version of the website including the fresh process of registration of users and “process of stabilization of 45 forms launched with effect from 23.01.2023”, it has decided to allow users an additional 15 days to file the forms without any extra fees.

“Form PAS-03 which was closed for filing in Version-2 on 20.01.2023 and launched in Version-3 on 23.01.2023, and whose due dates for filing fall between 20.01.2023 and 06.02.2023, can also be filed without payment of additional fees for a period of 15 days,” it had said.

In fact, Muthoot Finance has also approached the Kerala High Court for interim relief and to submit documents physically as the online system crashed.

In an interim order on February 3, the court said: “Any how, 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…. The pendency of the writ petition will not stand in the way of the Ministry of Corporation Affairs, Union of India, New Delhi to take appropriate decision with respect to the receipt of the documents in physical as well as in electronic form since the online system has crashed."