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List of notifications/circulars/advisory
23 March to 31 March, 2020
Last Updated On |
Issuing Authority |
Applicability |
Nature of directions |
Copy of notification/source. |
March 31, 2020 |
Ministry of Finance, Government of India |
The Stamp Act |
§ The Finance Ministry has deferred enforcement of amendments to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 till July 1, 2020. This amendment was scheduled to come into force on April 1, 2020. |
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March 31, 2020 |
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India |
Validity of the documents related to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 |
§ The validity of documents such as driving licenses, vehicle registrations, fitness and permits that expired since February 1, 2020 till June 30, 2020 has been extended until June 30, 2020. |
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Download hereMarch 30, 2020 |
Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India |
Filing of documents in MCA- 21 registry |
§ In pursuance of Government of India’s efforts to provide relief to the law abiding companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in the wake of COVID 19, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), has introduced “Companies Fresh Start Scheme, 2020”, and revised the “ LLP Settlement Scheme , 2020”, to provide opportunity to the companies/LLPs to make good any filing related defaults and to make a fresh start as a fully compliant entity . In this regard, the Central Government is condoning the delay in filing the necessary documents under certain conditions.
§ Both the schemes as aforesaid is a one- time waiver of additional filing fees for delayed filings by the companies/LLPs during the currency of the schemes i.e. from April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020.
§ It is however clarified that this immunity is only against delayed filings in MCA-21 and not against any substantive violation of law. |
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March 30, 2020 |
Ministry of Finance, Government of India |
Financial Year 2019-2020 |
§ In a press release, the Union Finance Ministry has clarified that there is no extension of the financial year 2019-2020. This has been done considering the massive circulation of fake news regarding extension of the financial year |
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March 30, 2020 |
High Court of Manipur |
Functioning of the High Court of Manipur and the courts subordinate to it. |
§ The High Court of Manipur and the courts subordinate thereto have suspended all the regular court work/sitting, with effect from April 1, 2020 till April 14, 2020. The High Court has clarified that the limitation will not run during such period and all the interim orders granted earlier by the High Court and the District Courts for a specified date shall be extended till next date of effective hearing. |
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March 29, 2020 |
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India |
Corporate insolvency resolution process |
§ The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India on March 29, 2020 issued a regulation stating that the period of the lockdown imposed by the Central Government shall not be counted for the purposes of the time line for any activity that could not be completed due to such lockdown, in relation to a corporate insolvency resolution process. A new regulation 40C (special provision relating to timeline) was inserted on March 29, 2020 by way of a third amendment to capture the aforesaid. |
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March 29, 2020 |
Office of the District and Sessions Judge (HQ), Delhi |
Functioning of the central district in Tis Hazari Courts Complex |
§ The district judge of Tis Hazari Court, who is the administrative head of all trial courts in Delhi, on March 29, 2020 issued an advisory protocol to minimize the scope of physical interaction between judicial officers on duty and other stakeholders in view of the coronavirus outbreak, requesting the advocates and litigants to address arguments through video conference. Hearings may be allowed only in cases of extreme urgency. |
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March 29, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India. |
Constitution of Empowered Groups under the Disaster Management Act 2005 |
§ In exercise of the powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Home Secretary has constituted eleven Empowered Groups of Officers (as stated in the appendix of the notification) that are empowered to identify problem areas and provide effective solutions, delineate policies, formulate plans, strategize operations and take all necessary steps for the effective and time bound implementation of these plans/policies/strategies/decisions in their respective areas. |
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March 29, 2020 |
Home Secretary, Government of India |
Lockdown measures |
§ This is a letter from the Home Secretary issued to all Secretaries of Government of India on movement of goods without distinction of essential and non-essential goods.
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March 29, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |
All States and Union Territories of India |
§ This order pertains to the movement of migrants who are desirous of reaching their hometown. The following measures have been ordered: — All the employers, be it in the industry or shops or commercial establishments, shall make payments of wages to their workers at their workplaces, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown. — State/Union Territories shall ensure adequate arrangements in the form of food, temporary shelters and 14 days quarantine facilities for migrants who have moved out to reach their home states. — Landlords should not force students, laborers and migrants to vacate their premises and also should not demand payment of rent for a period of one month wherever workers and migrants are living in rented accommodation. |
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March 29, 2020 |
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare |
Indoor areas including office spaces, outdoor areas, public toilets |
§ This guideline aims to provide interim guidance about the environmental cleaning /decontamination of public places including offices in areas reporting COVID-19. For ease of implementation, this guideline divides the areas into (i) indoor areas (ii) outdoor areas and (iii) public toilets. |
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March 28, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |
All States and Union Territories of India |
§ This notification consolidates the notifications earlier issued by the Ministry on 24.03.2020 and further modified on 25.03.2020 and 27.03.2020. |
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March 28, 2020 |
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India. |
All States and UTs |
§ This notification traces the proactive measures taken by the Central Government of India (as detailed in the notification) for effectively containing, managing and preventing the spread of corona virus from January 18, 2020, much before the detection of first case of corona virus in India on January 30, 2020. |
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March 27, 2020 |
Reserve Bank of India |
Payments of loan instalments |
§ The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced that all commercial banks, co-operative banks, financial institutions, and non-banking finance companies including housing finance companies are permitted to allow 3-month moratorium on the payment of installments of term loans falling due between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020.
§ Interest shall continue to accrue on the outstanding portion of the term loans during the moratorium period.
§ This notification also includes the following points:
— Easing of working capital financing; — Classification as Special Mention Account (SMA) and Non- performing Assets (NPA); — Such other conditions as stated in the notification. |
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March 26, 2020 |
Cabinet Secretary, Government of India |
Incoming international passengers in all States and UTs |
The Cabinet Secretary has requested the States and UTs to take immediate steps with regards to surveillance of incoming international passengers that have arrived in India until March 23, 2020. |
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March 26, 2020 |
Ministry of Finance, Government of India |
Employers and certain category of employees of the Organized Sector |
The Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman in a press conference announced that EPF contribution by the Employee and the Employer (total 24%) will be paid for the next 3 months by the Government. This shall be for all establishments which have upto 100 employees and 90% of those employees who are earning less than Rs. 15,000 per month. |
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March 26, 2020 |
Government of Karnataka |
State of Karnataka (doctors and their landlords) |
The Karnataka Government has directed penal action against landlords harassing doctors for evicting their premises. |
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March 25, 2020 |
High Court of Delhi |
Functioning of the Delhi High Court and Courts sub-ordinate thereto. |
The Delhi High Court has automatically extended all interim orders (subsisting as on March 16, 2020 and expired or that will expire thereafter) including those passed by subordinate courts till May 15, 2020. |
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March 25, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |
Governments of all States and Union Territories |
This Notification contains an addendum to the guidelines issued on March 24, 2020. (*refer to item No. 13 below) Certain new exceptions have been carved for establishments that can continue to operate including the IT vendors for essential services and MCA 21 registry. |
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March 25, 2020 |
Memo issued by the Police Department, Government of Karnataka |
General Public in State of Karnataka |
This notification puts in place a pass system for persons and vehicles to regulate the movement of people. These passes shall be issued inter alia, to certain defined persons/organizations as stated in the memo, including the IT/ITES services employees which work for essential services. The passes shall be issued from the office of the jurisdictional DCP & L&O and will be made available 24X7.
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March 24, 2020 |
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in exercise of its powers conferred under Section 10 (2) (I) of the Disaster Management Act, issued an order to ensure consistency in the application of various measures across the country and maintenance of essential services and supplies, including health infrastructure. |
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March 24, 2020 |
Ministry of Finance, Government of India |
Filing of Income Tax returns |
Ministry of Finance has laid down the following financial relief measures:
§ Last date for income tax returns for the Financial year (2018-19) extended to June 30, 2020 § Aadhaar-PAN linking date extended till June 30, 2020 § Vivad se Vishwas scheme extended to June 30, 2020, No additional payment of 10% § Delayed payment interest for Financial Year 2018-19 reduced from 12% to 9%
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March 24, 2020 |
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addresses the Nation on COVID 19 |
All States and Union Territories |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and called for a complete lockdown of the entire nation for 21 days starting March 25, 2020. It was also stated that provisions have been made to ensure a continuous and smooth supply of essential items. |
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March 24, 2020 |
Office Memorandum issued by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India |
Functioning of IT/ITES Industry |
§ This is an advisory to State Governments to permit IT/ITES industry to carry out essential functions. § The IT/ITES Industry Associations have requested the Ministry to bring out uniformity across India, through a suitable advisory with regard to essential functions that are undertaken by the IT/ITES industry amongst the corona virus restricted. § In order to deal with the crises situation, the Ministry requested the State Governments to consider the following: — Employee who are certified as ‘Mission Critical’ and associated with essential services by the top management of the company may be permitted to operate from the company offices on the basis of such certificate issued. — A reasonable time of three days be given to persons who will operate from home , to enable shifting of necessary equipments, computers etc. from office to home. — E-commerce services (delivery, warehouse operations, shipping logistics) on the basis of evidence like copy of orders, way bills, invoices etc, particularly in respect of essential services must be permitted.
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March 24, 2020 |
Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India |
Functioning of offices of Ministry of Corporate Affairs |
§ All offices of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, including field offices, statutory and autonomous bodies, shall remain closed for a period of 21 days with effect from March 25, 2020 or until further orders. Officers/employees of these offices shall continue to work from home and will be available on telephone. |
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March 24, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs |
All States and Union Territories |
The order issued by the Government of India prescribing lockdown for containment of COVID-19 shall remain in force, in all parts of the country, for a period of 21 days with effect from 25.03.2020. The guidelines under the aforesaid order mention, inter alia that: § All commercial and private establishments barring those providing essential services shall be closed. IT and IT enabled services for essential services that cannot work from home shall be allowed to operate.
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March 24, 2020 |
Cabinet Secretary, Govt of India. |
All the States. |
§ Letter by the Cabinet Secretary to the State governments to enhance the efforts in respect of surveillance and contact tracing of positive cases to break the chain of transmission. § The State governments are required to immediately identify and earmark hospitals dedicated for the management of COVID 19 and to ensure that they are in a state of full readiness to deal with the situation in the event of future spike in the number of confirmed cases. |
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March 24, 2020 |
Press Information Bureau |
Statutory and regulatory compliance matters across all sectors. |
The Finance Minister announced several relief measures relating to statutory and regulatory compliance matters across Sectors in view of COVID-19 outbreak. Some developments related to corporate affairs are as follows:
§ No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from 01st April to 30th September 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date, which will not only reduce the compliance burden, including financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large, but also enable long-standing noncompliant companies/ LLPs to make a ‘fresh start’; § The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the Board of the companies within prescribed interval provided in the Companies Act (120 days), 2013, shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September; § Applicability of Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from 2019-2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on companies & their auditors for the year 2019-20. § As per Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013, Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management. § For the year 2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation. § Requirement to create a Deposit reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020. § Requirement to invest 15% of debentures maturing during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, may be done so before 30th June 2020.
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| March 23, 2020 | Press Information Bureau via twitter | All states, Union Territories and Districts | PIB has announced via twitter the lock down of the states, UTs and Districts. | Download here |
March 23, 2020 |
Department of Revenue and Forest, Govt of Maharashtra |
State of Maharashtra |
§ Lockdown in the entire State of Maharashtra from March 23, 2020 until March 31, 2020. § All state borders shall be ceased other than for movement of essential and perishable items. § Public transport (except for medical emergencies) shall not be permitted. § All shops, commercial establishments to remain closed. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) via press release |
Insurance industry, policy holders |
In the interest of smooth operation of the insurance industry certain relaxations have been permitted by the IRDAI, such as grace period for payment of renewal premiums, condoning delay in renewal of the insurance policies etc.
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March 23, 2020 |
Health and Family Welfare Department (Govt of Tamil Nadu) |
State of Tamil Nadu |
The following restrictions are applicable from 18.00 hrs of 24.03.2020 to 06.00 hrs of 01.04.2020. § All suspected cases of foreign returnees who arrived after March 1, 2020 are directed to remain under strict home quarantine for such period as decided by the local health authorities. § People are required to stay at home barring essential needs. § Aggregation of more than 5 persons in public places is prohibited. § All shops, commercial establishments, TASMAC shops, , govt bodies, autonomous bodies, public sector undertakings shall close their operations subject to exceptions indicted in the Order. § Public/private transport services will not be permitted. § All inter- state and inter district shall cease to operate. § Establishments providing certain essential services as listed in the Order shall be exempted from the aforesaid restrictions.
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March 23, 2020 |
Govt of Karnataka (Secretariat) |
State of Karnataka |
The following restrictions are applicable from 00.00 hrs of 23.03.2020 to 00.00 hrs of 01.04.2020. § All shops, commercial establishments, offices, workshops, godowns, industries, factories (barring essential services) shall close its operations. § All foreign returnees shall remain in strict home quarantine. Any failure will entail penal action and shift to government quarantine. § All gathering of more than 5 persons are prohibited except for purposes of containment of COVID 19 and for statutory and regulatory functions. § All IT and Biotech Companies will ensure their employees work from home barring those involved in critical and essential services where work from home is not feasible. § Plying of private vehicles, OLA, Uber, taxis, autorickshaws shall be permitted for procuring essential commodities and medical emergencies. § State borders shall remain closed. § The restrictions imposed earlier via earlier orders shall continue in force to the extent that they are not modified by this Order. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Department of Telecommunications, Govt of India. |
OSPs |
§ The format of the data to be furnished by the OSPs in respect of work from home for extended agent positions has been prescribed. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Office of the District Magistrate, U.T Chandigarh |
U.T of Chandigarh |
§ Vehicles/person on inter-state/inter district transit shall be allowed to pass only after verification of point of original and destination. § Other restrictions on government employees rendering essential/non -essential services, on personnel rendering health services, hospitals and chemist shops are as stated in the Order. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India (Office Memorandum) |
Incoming passengers |
§ The Central Government has directed various ministries to convey the order of the Central Government to stop all incoming passenger traffic on all 107 immigration check posts which includes al airport ICPs, all seaport ICPs, all landport ICPs, all railport ICPs and all riverport ICPs in view of the spread of coronavirus. § Vehicles/trains carrying essential goods are exempted. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Supreme Court of India |
Functioning of the Supreme Court of India |
§ The period of limitation in all proceedings , irrespective of the limitation prescribed under the general law or special laws whether condonable or not shall extended w.e.f 15th March, 2020 until further orders to be passed by the Supreme Court. |
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March 23, 2020 |
High Court of Delhi, New Delhi |
Delhi High Court and courts subordinate thereto. |
§ This Order pertains to the lockdown/ suspension of work of Delhi High Court and courts subordinate thereto from March 23, 2020 to April 4, 2020. § The functioning of the aforementioned Courts shall be affected, however in case of any fresh matter of extreme urgency, the Registrar/Joint Registrar of the aforementioned Courts are to be contacted telephonically. Hearing of such matter would be through video conference.
§ The matters that are already fixed upto 04.04.2020 shall be adjourned to subsequent dates and the information shall be uploaded on the website.
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March 23, 2020 |
District Collector, Indore |
District Indore, Madhya Pradesh |
§ The directions, inter alia state that all commercial establishments within the district shall mandatorily allow work from home till March 31, 2020 barring those engaged in provision of essential services. |
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March 23, 2020 |
Ministry of Corporate affairs, Government of India |
Clarifications to all stakeholders for spending of CSR funds for COVID-19. |
§ The Government of India has stated herein that COVID-19 shall be treated as a notified disaster. Accordingly spending of CSR funds for COVID 19 is eligible as a CSR activity subject to those as listed in (i) and (xiii) of Schedule VII. |