New Delhi, Oct 21: The Union Cabinet has returned the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2003, asking the Department of Companies Affairs to redraft it. The DCA had proposed several changes in the bill, including easing of the provision for independent directors from 50 per cent to two-thirds of the total strength of board of directors and entirely dropping the clause making a woman director mandatory on every company's board after industry associations and the corporate world had raised serious objections to these clauses.

The department is also believed to have inserted the clause capping the number of subsidiaries a company may float and making it mandatory for a group of companies to float only one investment company.

"It was taken up by the cabinet... They (DCA) were asked to withdraw the bill and come up with a fresh draft bill," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters here.

Besides, the draft also proposed to scrap the 75-year retirement age for directors on the boards of companies, sources said here.
The draft bill also proposed clauses on asset sale by companies for restructuring, they added.

Bureau Report