BJP CA cell demanded Amnesty Scheme for Partnership Firms
Date: – 29/04/2025
To,
Shri Devendra Fadnavis Ji
Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minster
Government of Maharashtra
Mumbai
Respected Sir,
Re: Partnership Firms-Amnesty Scheme.
Our Letter Ack Dt. 06.12.23, 24.1.2024
1. There are lacs of partnership firms registered in the State of Maharashtra, many of which are very old and have been operating since several
2. It is quite likely that due to many reasons and circumstances, these forms have undergone many changes during the course of their functioning such as:
i. Admission of one or more partners into an existing form, or
ii. Retirement of one or more partners from the firm, or
iii. Change of residential address of one or more partners, or
iv. Change in principal place of business of the firm or its branch, or
v. Change in the constitution of the firm, or
vi. Minor partners attaining majority, or
vii. Any of the partners expires, or
viii. Dissolution of the firm
3. It is the statutory obligation on the partnership firm concerned to keep informed the Registrar of firms (ROF), the governing body, about each and every ‘change’ that takes place and the said intimation has to be given to the ROF within a stipulated time. However, from our experience as professionals, we have observed that many times there is a lapse on the part of the firm to inform the relevant change to the The reason could be any. May be that they are ignorant about the very requirement or it goes out of mind of the concerned person due to same other assignments etc.
4. We have also observed that by and large the lapses are unintentional, although they are procedural in However, there could be very serious consequences of these lapses.
(a) First and foremost is that since the records of the firms are open for inspection for public at large, people tends to get wrong or incomplete information as the records at ROF itself are not updated.
(b) Second in the case where changes effected in the past are not brough on the ROF records and therefore subsequent change, thought informed to the ROF in time, may not be taken on the records which again will result into incomplete ROF records.
(c) Also a great deal of inconvenience is caused to the firms and the partners especially when they have to submit the latest and updated records certified by ROF. This may prove to be a hurdle to the day to day functioning of the
5. All these irregularities will result into heavy penalty, unending litigation
6. We all are aware that almost all the government bodies and various monitoring authorities viz, Income Tax Department, Company Law Board, Reserve Bank of India etc. have, in the past come out with various amnesty schemes or immunity schemes. We had recently a scheme called CLSS i.e. Company Law Settlement We had VDIS i.e. Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme. We had various amnesty schemes under Stamp Duty act, Profession Tax act, Sales Tax Act and so on. The end results of all these schemes were always as per the expectation and public at large have responded very warmly to the schemes and have regularized their matters.
7. In view of host of practical difficulties and inconvenience caused both to the Department and the public at large, we suggest Your Honour to please bring out an amnesty scheme for partnership firms so as to give them an opportunity to regularize the lapses, if any by charging some small compensatory penalty. This will not only solve this problem but confer many benefits which, according to us, are narrated as under:
i. Records of the ROF and the concerned firm will be
ii. The lapses and shortcomings will be
iii. Charging of compensatory penalty would result in additional revenue to the State which will run into few crores.
iv. Business community and public at large will be made aware of various legal and statutory provision and the habits of complying with the laws.
8. As all other amnesty schemes were by and large successful and both, the government and the people have gained so much gained so much out of it, we are very hopeful that a similar scheme for Partnership Firms will certainly help us to solve many routine related to ROF. We may draw your kind attention to an amnesty scheme for partnership firms brought out by Government of Maharashtra approximately 25 years before. We think it is most appropriate time now to come out with a Amnesty Scheme as requested hereinabove.
9. We draw your kind attention to some of the practical difficulties faced by the partner and professionals like advocates and C.As.
a. When any paper is submitted to Registrar’s office, a “called on” stamp is put at the time of submission of papers. But in reality, at least 3 to 4 times follow up is required to ultimately receive the
b. It is learnt that enough funds are not provided for the purpose of postage to Registrar of Therefore, no notice or any paper is sent to the parties by the Registrar’s office. Partners and/ or professionals have to keep the track on the dates and send somebody personally to collect the papers.
c. It is observed that for the purpose of census and election purposes, staff of Registrar’s office are transferred elsewhere resulting into lots of pendency of cases.
d. Registration and/or any modification in the records of partnership firm registers with Registrar of Firms should normally not take more than a month. However, it takes at least 6 to 8 months normally. With the result the certificate of registration cannot be produced to number of authorities until then and the work suffers.
e. The partners, Chartered accountants and Advocates may please be given reasonable opportunity of being heard in all the
f. Any objection in the matter of modification/registration may please be intimated within 7 to 15 days.
g. Attestation/verification may please be permitted to be done by Chartered Accountants and Advocates also. Presently only Notaries are This results into lot of hardship to business men and CAs and Advocates.
h. Presently, penalty is 10/- per day default till the default is rectified. This is too severe to bear by anybody. It should be restricted to maximum Rs.500/-.
i. Your Honor will please appreciate and agree that in the modern age, the office of Registrar of firms need to be fully computerized.
j. It will highly appreciate if an additional office also located in south
- We shall be glad to discuss this matter personally at a time suitable to your Honour and help preparing the scheme.
Awaits Your Prompt Action. Thanking You
Yours Faithfully
CA SHAILESH R. GHEDIA
President
Adv. RAJENDRA MISHRA CA PARAS SAVLA
Vice President Vice President
Ex-President: CITC
CA SACHIN MAHER CA ASHOK MAGNANI
Gen. Secretary President: Andheri (W) Vidhansabha
CA PINKI KEDIA CA ASHISH KUMAR JAIN
Secretary Secretary
Chair Person: WICASA of WIRC of ICAI
Adv. JHUMER BALGHAT CA ANIL SHARMA
Secretary President: Andheri(E)
VidhanSabha
CA MANMOHAN SHARMA CA SANJAY GAJRA
President: Jogeshwari (E) President: Mulund
