The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has issued the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund), Third Amendment, Rules, 2021 vide notification dated December 28, 2021.
Key amendments:
- The amendment states that the shares held in DEMAT account, shall not be transferred or dealt with in any manner except for the purposes of transferring the shares back to the claimant as and when he approaches the Authority or in accordance with the sub-rules.
- In case an application for purchase of shares is received through the company, the Authority may receive the amount entitled on behalf of the minority shareholders from the company as per procedures of Section 236.
- A separate ledger account shall be maintained and the amount is to be credited.
- The authority shall verify that the conditions provided under the relevant section of the Act and rules framed thereunder have been satisfied and shall also call a report from the company if the acquirer of shares has fulfilled the requirements of section 236, if shares have been valued in accordance with the provisions of section 236 (2) and any other relevant information as required.
- The Company shall be liable to indemnify the Authority in case of any dispute or lawsuit that may be initiated and the Authority shall not be liable to indemnify the minority shareholder or the Company or any other person for any liability arising, leading to any litigation or complaint arising.
- Any claimant entitled to claim transfer of such shares from the Authority under Section 124(6) shall only be entitled to the amount received by the Authority on behalf of the minority shareholder without any interest.
Any amount required to be credited by the companies to the Fund shall be remitted into the specified account of the IEPF Authority maintained in the Punjab National Bank and the details thereof shall be furnished to the Authority in Form No. IEPF-7 within thirty days from the date of remittance.