Certified Filing Centre

Certified Filing Centres (CFC) forms a part of the

Background

The MCA21 project was launched by the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) in the year 2006 with the creation of 53 consumer facilitation centres at various parts of the country. These centres were meant to facilitate e-filing under the MCA21 project. Certified Creation Centres were launched when the MCA felt the need of expanding its reach to a wider segment of people. This project renders all registry related services including the filing of documents, registration of companies and public access to corporate information through a secure and interactive portal. The services of the portal can be accessed or availed at all places, and at any time preferred by the corporate entities, professionals and public at large. The project has now led to efficient delivery of services and regulation of corporates through the use of modern information technology.

Eligibility and Conditions

The facility of Certified Filing Centre (CFC) could be set-up and operated by any or all of the following:

• Institute of Company Secretaries of India, the Chartered Accountants of India and the Cost and Works Accountants of India, either by themselves or through the specific Regional Councils/Local Chapters.
• Any professional associated with the three Professions specified above as per the qualifications prescribed under para 2(B).
• Firms which includes professionals drawn from any or all of the three Professional Institutes specified above.
• Any Body Corporate owned/managed by the Professionals possessing a certificate of practice provided by the members of any or all of the three Professional Institutes specified above.

The above-mentioned professionals must additionally fulfil the criteria specified below:

• He/she should hold membership in the respective institute.
• He/she should have an experience of at least two years in practice.
• He/she shouldn’t have been guilty of professional misconduct during the last three years, or his/her membership shouldn’t have been removed from the Register of Members by the respective institute.
• He/she should be in line with the technical eligibility criteria for operation of the CFC Scheme as indicated under para 3 of the scheme.

Infrastructure and Technical Requirements

To be approved as a Certified Filing Centre, the concerned party must provide the following physical and technical infrastructure/facilities:

• Office Space with a square-feet of at least 200, exclusively dedicated to the CFC and equipped with at least two counter seats for service and 4-5 waiting seats.
• Fax and Phone facilities.
• Two Pentium Class – IV PCs with Color Monitors and a minimum Ram of 256 MB, USB Ports, Floppy Disk Drive, and CD Writer. The computer system should also be equipped with Windows 2000/Windows XP, Internet Explorer V.6.0 and above, Adobe reader V.7.0.5, Java Runtime Environment (JRE), PDF Converter and Anti-Virus software, and Digital Signature (Class 2/Class 3).
• A desk-jet or laser printer.
• A flat bed scanner.
• Broadband Internet Connectivity or higher.
• Reliable and essential power supply arrangements including UPS.
• At least one trained staff to operate the systems.

Filing of Applications

Interested candidates may file their applications to the MCA through the respective Local Chapter/Regional Council/Council of the Institute by remitting an application fee of INR 1000. These institutes, in-turn, will examine and process all eligible applications before forwarding it to the MCA. The MCA would then approve the application if it meets the requisite conditions.

Display of Sign Board

Every CFC must place a signboard indicating that the Centre has been authorized by the MCA to accept MCA-21 filings. It must be in the dimension of 3*2 and must be displayed in a prominent position. The Board should be in line with the specifications provided in the CFC corner of the MCA website with respect to its content, style and colour so as to enable the public to identify such Centres easily.

Final Registration

Within a week after the Ministry approves the application, the Operator of the MCA21 system would issue a User ID and password to the email ID of the applicant specified in the CFC application form. The CFC administrator may then use their user ID and complete the registration process after establishing the essential infrastructure and setting up the display of the CFC signboard. The registration process would necessitate the entry of details of the CFC, which would later be published in the CFC Corner of the MCA website.

Services and its Charges

The CFCs are obligated to provide the following technical and non-technical services with its respective maximum charges. On a note of clarification, the rates of services indicated herein are the maximum and are exclusive of the statutory fees payable to the Government in respect of all services.

Obligations of the CFC

• Every CFC, as already stated, must display a signboard outside the premises as per the design approved by the MCA.
• The CFCs must render services on the basis of payments, and the charges for such services must not exceed the amount indicated in the schedule of charges mentioned in the scheme. Moreover, it must blatantly display the details of service charge chargeable by the CFC for its various services.  The charges so displayed must be in accordance with the ones prescribed by the Ministry.
• The CFC service provider must ensure that the facilities in the Centre are in good working conditions and that reliable connectivity is maintained.
• The CFC service provider must accept the responsibility for successfully operating the DSC during the validity period issued by a Certification Agency if such service has been facilitated by the CFC to the end-user.
• The CFC must maintain accounts of all statutory fee payments concerned with the services provided. It is also responsible for the reconciliation of accounts in case of any missing credits.
• The CFCs are subject to be inspected by persons authorized by the MCA or the Council of the concerned professional institute.
• The CFC may close the facility down with one month’s notice to the MCA and shall surrender the Registration Certificate to the MCA after closure.

Cancellation of Certification

CFCs which aren’t compliant with the specified technical/professional criteria and fails to perform its obligations would be liable to have its certification cancelled without any compensation.

Validity