Covid19nBusiness

In view of the hardships due to lockdown, all 87.59 lakhs food security cardholders in the state would be given 12 kg of rice per person amounting 3.58 lakh tonnes at a cost of Rs 1103 Crores. Further all food security card holding families would be given a one time support of Rs.1500/- to meet the expenditure on other essential commodities such as dal, vegetables and salt etc. at an estimated cost of Rs.1314 Crores. All the Government as well as private establishments shall make payments of wages/salaries fully to the workers/employees including those working under contract and outsourcing basis during the lockdown period. Any violation will be viewed seriously and will invite penal action under The Epidemics Disease Act 1897. During the lockdown period, steps will be taken to ensure that there is no disruption in the supply of essential commodities to the people. All Educational institutions and education department activities including spot valuation will be closed till 3...

The following further directions are issued for streamlined implementation of the lockdown i. Not more than one person shall be allowed to move on a two-wheeler and not more than two persons shall be allowed on a four-wheeler. ii.  No movement of any persons shall be permitted for any purpose other than accessing emergency medical care during the period from 7.00 PM every evening to 6.00 AM on the following day. iii. No shop/establishment except hospitals and pharmacies will be allowed to operate after 6.30 PM. iv. Residents shall procure essential goods and services from shops and establishments located within a radius of not more than 3 km from their residence. v. Insurance service providers shall be permitted to operate during the lockdown period.     The above restrictions shall not apply to employees/persons deployed in the control of COVID           19.        Temporary police check-p...

In view of the orders issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the Telangana Government has ordered to extend the lockdown period up to 14th April 2020. Government of Telangana Order

SEBI (SAST) Regulations, 2011 requires the shareholders to compile, collate, and disseminate information of their consolidated shareholding as on March 31, 2020, to the company and the stock exchanges within seven working days from the end of the financial year.  In view of the developments arising due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been decided to extend the due date of filing the disclosures for the financial year ending March 31, 2020 to June 01, 2020.  SEBI Circular Links SEBI Circular SEBI Circular

In pursuance of the Government of India’s efforts to provide relief to law abiding companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in the wake of COVID 19, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has introduced the “Companies Fresh Start Scheme, 2020” and revised the “LLP Settlement Scheme, 2020” which is already in vogue to provide a first of its kind opportunity to both companies and LLPs to make good any filing related defaults, irrespective of duration of default, and make a fresh start as a fully compliant entity.  The Fresh Start scheme and modified LLP Settlement Scheme incentivize compliance and reduce compliance burden during the unprecedented public health situation caused by COVID-19. The USP of both the schemes is a one-time waiver of additional filing fees for delayed filings by the companies or LLPs with the Registrar of Companies during the currency of the Schemes, i.e. during the period starting from 1st April, 2020 and ending on 30th September, 2020.  The S...

Telanagna Government deferred  salaries to public representatives and government servants for the month of Mar 2020 to Coronavirus outbreak and serious impact on the state revenues as follows: Salaries of the Chief Minister, State Cabinet Ministers, MLCs, MLAs, State Corporation chairpersons and members of both urban and rural local bodies will be deferred by 75 per cent. 60 per cent deferment  imposed on salaries paid to civil servants including IAS, IPS and IFS officers. 50 per cent deferment in salaries of employees of all other categories including retired employees (pensioners). Only 10 per cent of the salaries would be deferred for Class-IV, outsourcing and contract employees including retired Class-IV employees. Employees of all public sector corporations and organisations obtaining the government grants, will receive 50 per cent of their salary for this month and 50% will be deferred.   Telangana GO27 30Mar2020

Telangana Labour Department declared lock-down period 22 Mar 2020 to 31 Mar 2020  as paid holiday.  Notification - Telangana Labour Dept

National Company Law Tribunal vide its order dated 30 March 2020 extended   the period of lock-down ordered by the Central Government and the State Governments including the period as may be extended  either in whole or part of the country, where the registered office of the Corporate Debtor may be located, shall be excluded for the purpose of counting of the period for ‘Resolution Process under Section 12 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, in all cases where ‘Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process’ has been initiated and pending before any Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal or in Appeal before this Appellate Tribunal. (2)  It is further ordered that any interim order/ stay order passed by this Appellate Tribunal in anyone or the other Appeal under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 shall continue till next date of hearing, which may be notified later.  NCLAT

For the first time in Telangana, the State government invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which empowers senior officials to take measures necessary to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The invoking of the Act means all private and corporate hospitals in Telangana will now have to set aside ‘Covid-19 corners’ to screen suspected cases, as and when required by the senior health authorities. In exercise of powers conferred under the Act, the government framed regulations called as ‘The Telangana Epidemic Diseases (Covid-19) Regulations, 2020’, which will come in force immediately and be valid for one year. The regulations empower authorities to initiate action under Section 188 of the IPC (80 of 1860) against persons who refuse to get isolated or comply with health officials’ advice. Also read Be socially responsible, report people with foreign travel history: CM KCR COVID-19 virus stays for 3 days on plastic, stainless steel: Study In case the spread of Covid-19 is ...

In compliance of the said Order of NDMA, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an Order dated 24.03.2020 under Section 10(2)(l) of the Disaster Management Act, directing the Ministries/ Departments of Government of India, State/Union Territory Governments and State/ Union Territory Authorities to take effective measures for ensuring social distancing so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The Order shall remain in force, in all parts of the country, for a period of 21 days with effect from 25.03.2020. The Ministries/ Departments of Government of India and State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, have been directed to ensure strict implementation of these Orders.  The implementation of these measures will be monitored by MHA. Ministry of Home Order Ministry of Home Guidelines

Supreme Court Court has taken  Suo Motu  cognizance of the situation arising out of the challenge faced by the country on account of Covid-19 Virus and resultant difficulties that may be faced by litigants across the country in filing their petitions/applications/suits/ appeals/all other proceedings within the period of limitation prescribed under the general law of limitation or under Special Laws (both Central and/or State). To obviate such difficulties and to ensure that lawyers/litigants do not have to come physically to file such proceedings in respective Courts/Tribunals across the country including this Court, it was ordered that a period of limitation in all such proceedings, irrespective of the limitation prescribed under the general law or Special Laws whether condonable or not shall stand extended with effect from  15th March 2020 till further order/s to be passed by the Court in present proceedings. The Court while exercising the power under Article 142 ...

All stays / interim orders which are in force as on 20 Mar 2020 and expiring thereafter passed by  High  Court of Telangana (HCT)  or sub ordinate courts of HCT  stand automatically extended upto 7 June 2020 vide High Court Order dated 27 Mar 2020. Telangana High Court Order

Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has issued notification GSR 225(E) amending EPF Scheme 1952 to allow withdrawal of non-refundable advance by EPF members/subscribers in the wake of COVID -19 pandemic in the country. The notification permits withdrawal of upto the amount of basic wages and dearness allowance for three months or upto 75% of the amount standing to member's credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, in the event of outbreak of epidemic or pandemic. COVID-19 has been declared pandemic by appropriate authorities for the entire country and therefore employees working in establishments and factories across entire India, who are members of the EPF Scheme, 1952 are eligible for the benefits of non-refundable advance. A sub-para(3) under para 68L has been inserted in the EPF scheme,1952.The amended scheme Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) scheme,2020 has come into force from 28 March,2020.  PF Notification

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the Repo Rate by 75 basis points to 4.4% and Reverse Repo Rate by 90 basis points to 4%.   CRR of all banks is to be reduced by 100 basis points to 3% with effect from 28 March for one year.  All commercial banks (including regional rural banks, small finance banks and local area banks), co-operative banks, all-India Financial Institutions, and NBFCs (including housing finance companies and micro-finance institutions), that is, lending institutions, are being permitted to allow a moratorium of three months on payment of instalments in respect of all term loans outstanding as on March 1, 2020.              In respect of working capital facilities sanctioned in the form of cash credit/overdraft, lending institutions are being permitted to allow a deferment of three months on payment of interest in respect of all such facilities outstanding as on March 1, 2020. The accumulated interest for th...

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs clarified that any donation given to PM Cares Fund set up to provide relief to those affected by any kind of emergency or distress situation shall quality as  CSR expenditure under the Companies Act 2013.  Notification PM CARES Fund

Customs 24X7 Custom clearance till end of 30th June, 20208. Due date for issue of notice, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing applications, reports, any other documents etc., time limit for any compliance under the Customs Act and other allied Laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020   to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020.  Press Release 24Mar2020

  Those having aggregate annual turnover less than Rs. 5 Crore - The Last date for filing   GSTR-3B due in March, April and May 2020 can be filed by the last week of June 2020. No interest, late fee, and penalty to be charged. Others assesses can file returns due in March, April and May 2020 by last week of June 2020 but the same would attract reduced rate of interest @9 % per annum from 15 days after due date (current interest rate is 18 % per annum). No late fee and penalty to be charged, if complied before till 30th June 2020. Date for opting for composition scheme is extended till the last week of    June 2020.   Further, the last date for making payments for the quarter ending 31st March 2020 and filing of return for 2019-20 by the composition dealers will be extended till the last week of June 2020. Date for filing GST annual returns of FY 18-19, which is due on 31st March 2020 is extended till the last week of June 2020. Due date for issue o...

Extend last date for income tax returns for (FY 18-19) from 31st March 2020 to 30th June 2020. Aadhaar-PAN linking date to be extended from 31st March 2020 to 30th June, 2020.2. Vivad se Vishwas   Scheme – no additional 10% amount, if payment made by June 30, 2020. Due dates for   issue   of notice, intimation, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements, applications, reports, any other documents and time limit for completion of proceedings by the authority and any compliance by the taxpayer including investment in saving instruments or investments for roll over benefit of capital gains    under Income Tax Act,   Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, Black Money Act,   STT law, CTT Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se Vishwas   law   where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020   to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020. ...

Compliance Certificate under Reg 40(9) from Practicing Company Secretary which needs to be submitted by 30 April 2020 is extended to till May 30, 2020. Annual General Meeting of    top 100 listed companies which needs to be conducted by 31 Aug 2020 is extended to Sept 30, 2020. The nomination and remuneration committee, the stakeholder relationship committee and the risk management committee shall meet at least once in a year and the due date for financial year FY 2019-2020 is 31 Mar 2020 is extended to June 30, 2020. Relaxation of the operation of the SEBI circular on Standard Operating Procedure dated January 22, 2020   - SEBI vide circular no. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD/CIR/P/2020/12 dated January 22, 2020 issued the Standard Operating    Procedure (SoP) on imposition of fines and other enforcement actions for non-compliances with provisions of the LODR, the effective date of operation of which is for compliance periods ending on or after March 31, 2020. The sa...

IBBI vide notification dated 29th March, 2020 amended Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 providing relaxation to  the period of lock-down imposed by the Central Government in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak shall not be counted for the purposes of the time-line for any activity that could not be completed due to such lock-down, in relation to a corporate insolvency resolution process.  Notification-IBC

The threshold of default under section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code ('IBC') is raised to Rs 10 million (from the existing threshold of Rs 100,000) . This will prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings against Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises. Further, it was announced that if the impact of pandemic and current situation prevails beyond April 30, 2020, the provisions of section 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC may be suspended for a period of 6 months.  Notification - Increase in threshold   

MCA  has postponed the applicability of Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2020 and same shall now be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from 2019-2020 notified earlier. This is aimed to ease the burden on corporate compliances and audit for the year 2019-2020.  MCA CARO Notification

The Ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) announced that funds spent on measures to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak will be counted towards the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity of companies.  Notification

Relaxation in form filing fee payable to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (' MCA ') -  April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 is declared as moratorium period. Irrespective of the due date, no additional fees will be charged for late filing in respect of any document, return, statement etc., with  MCA -21 Registry, during this period. The move is aimed at reducing the compliance burden and financial burden at large. This is applicable for companies and LLPs.   Relaxation in Board Meetings -  The minimum requirement to hold 4 board meetings every year with not more than 120 days gap between two consecutive meetings stands extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till September 30, 2020. For example, where if a company has conducted its board meeting on March 15, 2020 and the next meeting is due before July 13 (upto 120 days), the board meeting can now be held upto September 11, 2020 (180 days). Deferment of Companies (Auditor's Report) Ord...

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has  given Advisory on Preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID19 including work from home. MCA directed all companies and LLPs to file web form named CAR (Company Affirmation of Readiness towards COVID-19) by 23rd of March 2020 and further extended that date to 31Mar 2020. This has no filing fees. Further Ministry clarified its only voluntary requirement; hence this need not be complied. Notification