Task force vets Irani report

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has set up a task force to look into the JJ Irani Committee report on amendments to the Companies Act to sort out issues that require closer examination.

The task force, comprising an executive director of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), a joint secretary in the finance ministry and an under secretary in the ministry of company affairs will discuss the matter with Irani shortly.

The Irani committee report came up for discussion at a closed-door meeting of the captains of Indian industry with the finance minister on Saturday in Mumbai.

Chidambaram talked about the task force when Bajaj Auto chief Rahul Bajaj drew his attention to the need for harmonisation of the proposed company law provision with the listing agreement norms of Sebi so that there was no conflict between the market regulator on the one hand and industry and government on the other.

While Clause 49 of Sebi's Listing Agreement requires every listed entity to reserve half the board for independent directors if the chairman is an executive director, the Irani committee has suggested reserving one third of the board for independent directors.