2A. (i) You have been recently appointed as the Company Secretary in S.K. Limited. One of the youngest Board members wanted to understand from you-what Role a Company Secretary may have, under the Laws Governing to Depos

Various roles a Company Secretary can exercise under the Laws Governing to Depositories and Depository Participants, are as under: Right to Legal Representation: In case of any decision of the SEBI, the aggrieved entity/ company (the appellant) may either appear in person or authorise one or more chartered accountants or company secretaries (PCS) or cost accountants or legal practitioners or any of its officers to present his or its case before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). (Section 23C of Depositories Act, 1996) Internal Audit of Depository Participants: The 2 (two) Depository services providers in India, viz., National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) have allowed Company Secretaries in whole-time practice to undertake internal audit of the operations of Depository Participants (DPs). Reconciliation of Share Capital Audit: Company Secretary is authorised to issue quarterly certificate with regard to reconciliation of the total issued capital, listed capital and capital held by depositories in dematerialized form, details of changes in share capital during the quarter, and in-principle approval obtained by the issuer from all the stock exchanges where it is listed in respect of such further issued capital under SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018. [Regulation 76 of SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018] Concurrent Audit of Depository Participants: Practising Company Secretary is authorized to carry out concurrent audit of Depository Participants which covers audit of the process of demat account opening, control and verification of Delivery Instruction Slips (DIS).