Only a Company Secretary, being officer responsible for ensuring compliances under the Companies Act, 2013, shall be treated as officer in default in case of violations committed by the company.

As per Section 2(60), 'officer who is in default', means any of the following officers of a company, namely: whole-time director; key managerial personnel; where there is no key managerial personnel, such director or directors as specified by the Board in this behalf and who has or have given consent in writing to the Board to such specification; any person who, under the immediate authority of the Board or any key managerial personnel, is charged with any specified responsibilities; any person in accordance with whose advice the Board of Directors is accustomed to act, other than a professional advisor; every director, who is aware of contravention by virtue of the receipt by him of any proceedings of the Board, or participation in such proceedings without objecting to the same, or where contravention had taken place with his consent or connivance; in respect of the issue or transfer of shares, the share transfer agents, registrars and merchant bankers to the issue or transfer. Further, as provided in Section 205 of the Companies Act, 2013, the functions of the Company Secretary include to report to the Board about compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules made thereunder and other laws applicable to the company and also to ensure that the company complies with the applicable secretarial standards. Accordingly, Company Secretary is not the only officer responsible for ensuring compliances under the Companies Act, 2013 for consideration of officer in default as defined under section 2(60) of the Companies Act, 2013.