Company secretaries are expecting to widen their scope of work and include dispute resolution in commercial and even individual cases such as family disputes related to business.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) plans to set up at least 20 centres across India over the next 12 months, including one in Calcutta to facilitate dispute resolution in line with the guidance of the union law ministry.

“Commercial disputes keep on happening and cases remain stuck in court. We have taken a decision that we should open Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) centres. The launch is happening today. “A pilot project will take place in Hyderabad. The plan is to have 20 such centres over the next year,” said ICSI president Devendra Deshpande who was in the city for the 50th national convention of company secretaries.

“It need not be only corporates, it can be individual commercial disputes also. Company secretaries can play a role in resolving them through alternate mechanisms — arbitration, mediation, conciliation,” said Deshpande.

He added that over the last few years, the institute had trained the company secretaries to handle such disputes.

“We will empanel the trained members and that can be shared with High Courts who may then decide to send the case to the arbitrator. The arbitration proceedings will require set-up which the institute can also provide,” he said.

He further said that the institute is building a centre of excellence in New Town which is expected to be operational by December-end and will provide training infrastructure for the company secretaries.

The ICSI is also signing a memorandum of understanding with the state government to facilitate MSMEs taking advantage of various state schemes.

The institute is also expanding its boundaries with its sixth overseas centre coming up in Canada.

The ICSI has five overseas centres in UAE, US, UK, Singapore and Australia. The institute is also overhauling its syllabus and the new one will be applicable from 2023.