Sub:  Scheme for Certified Filing Centres (CFCs) to be operated by Professionally qualified persons / Bodies to facilitate e-filing of documents under MCA21 e-Governance Programme of the Ministry of Company Affairs.

The Ministry of Company Affairs has introduced the MCA21 e-Governance programme with a view to providing all services relating to ROC offices on-line in e-Governance mode. The process of transition from manual mode of operations of conducting transactions with ROC offices to the electronic mode requires adoption of e-filing practices by various stakeholders in a smooth manner. It has been decided to set up Facilitation Centres / Physical Front Offices at 53 locations throughout the country as a part of the Project to facilitate e-filing by professionals / company representatives. The e-filing services in these Facilitation Centres are made available without any charge.

It has been decided that the facilities for e-filing should be made available with a greater out-reach so as to ensure that the stakeholders do not face any difficulties in this process of transition.

Accordingly, it has been decided to provide an opportunity for the Professional Institutes (ICSI, ICAI, ICWAI), their Regional Councils / Local chapters, individual practicing members and firms of professionals to create and set-up the required facilities for this purpose. The Certified Filing Centers thus set-up by the Professionals would be over and above the 53 Facilitation Centres set-up by the Ministry under the programme. While the services available from the Facilitation Centres set-up by the Ministry would be without any charge, the services provided by these Certified Filing Centers will entail payment of service charges. This arrangement is formalized through this “Scheme for Certified Filing Centers (CFCs)”. The details of this Scheme are given in the following paragraphs.

Date of launch of the scheme

The Scheme shall take effect from the 20th of April, 2006 and shall remain valid for a period of three years unless renewed / revised further.*

1.  Certified Filing Center

A Certified Filing Center (CFC) for MCA e-filing is a facility, other than the Physical Front Offices or Facilitation Centres set-up by the Ministry of Company Afairs, to be set-up and operated by an appropriately qualified private individual, firm or body corporate under the MCA21 e-Governance Programme, from where the actual electronic filing of documents by companies may be enabled along with associated facilitation on payment basis.

2.  Eligibility and Qualifications

• A Certified Filing Centre (CFC) is a facility set-up and operated by any or all of the following :
  • Institutes of Company Secretaries of India, the Chartered Accountants of India and the Cost and Works Accountants of India by themselves or through their Regional Councils / Local Chapters subject to the relevant Acts governing the above Institutes, or
  • Any professional from the three Professions mentioned above as per qualifications prescribed under para 2(B), or
  • Firms consisting of professionals drawn from members of any or all of the three Professional Institutes referred to above, or
  • Any Body Corporate owned or managed by the Professionals, holding certificate of practice, from members of any or all of the three Professional Institutes referred to above.
• In order to be eligible to apply for a CFC, the Professional, as mentioned under para 2(A)(ii) above, should fulfill the following criteria :
  • He / she should be a member of the respective Institute;
  • He / she should possess experience of at least two years in practice;
  • He / she should not have been guilty of professional misconduct during the last three years or his / her membership should not have been removed from the register of Members by the respective institute at any time.
  • He / she should meet the technical eligibility criteria for operation of the CFC Scheme as indicated under para 3 of the Scheme.

3.  Technical Eligibility Criteria (Infrastructure requirements) :

In order to be eligible for approval as a Certified Filing Centre, the intending party has to provide the following minimum physical and technical infrastructure / facilities :

• Office Space measuring a minimum of 200 sq. ft. exclusively dedicated to the CFC and equipped with at least two counter seats for service and 4-5 waiting seats;
• Two Pentium Class – IV PCs with Colour Monitors and Min. 256 MB RAM, USB Ports, Floppy Disk Drive, and CD Writer.
• A desk-jet or laser printer;
• A flat bed scanner (above 600 DPI);
• Broadband Internet connectivity or higher;
• Dependable Power Supply arrangements including UPS.
• Fax and Phone facility;
• At least one trained staff person who can operate the systems;
• The Computer system should be equipped with the following software;
  • 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
  • Digital Signature (Class 2 / Class 3)

4.  Schedule and scope of Services and Maximum charges for various Services.

As a minimum, the CFC shall provide the following technical and non-technical services with maximum permissible rates mentioned against each one of these services. It may be clarified that the rates for services indicated herein are the maximum and these rates are exclusive of the statutory fees payable to the Government in respect of all services.

• The CFC shall display a Sign-board of being a CFC outside the premises as per the design approved by the Ministry of Company Affairs;
• CFCs shall provide services on payment basis and the service charges shall not exceed the amount indicated in the schedule of charges indicated in the scheme and it must prominently display the details of service charges chargeable by the CFC in respect of various services as approved by the Ministry.
• The CFC service provider has to ensure that the facilities are in good working condition at all times and reliable connectivity is maintained.
• The Service provider shall be responsible for successful operation of the DSC during the validity period issued by a Certification Agency if such service has been facilitated by the CFC to end-user.
• The CFC shall keep accounts of all statutory fee payments in respect of the services provided by him and shall be responsible for reconciliation of accounts in case of any missing credits in a manner as may be prescribed.
• The CFCs shall be subject to inspection by persons authorized by MCA or the Council of the concerned professional institute.
• In case the Service Provider chooses to close down the CFC, for whatsoever reasons, he would do so with one month’s notice to the MCA and shall surrender the Registration Certificate to the MCA immediately upon closure of service.