This article has been written by Mr. Aditya Raj Pandey, a 2^nd Year BA LLB student from Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad. 

GENERAL PRESUMPTION AND DEFINITION OF COMPANY

Today, there are so many companies present worldwide and in India as well. Some of them are multi national companies whereas other are company at the national level only. Not only this much, some companies function or operate in particular states or set of states only. As we all know and have some common apprehension in our mind about the company. In general sense, it is a particular type of groups or organization consisting of several people which provides some kinds of services in one manner or the other. Company is a Latin word which means that, “group of people who have their bread together.” Therefore, the literal meaning of the word is group who have their meal or bread together. 

Now, we know that every country have some set of rules and regulations to govern the companies within the boundaries of the country. Similarly India also have an act called as Company Act, which subsequently governs the working of the companies and keeps a check on the activity as well as practices of the company. The definition of Company provided in the Company Act, 2013, under section 2(20). According to this section, Company is any company which is incorporated under this act or any previous Company Law.” In wide ranging manner we can say that it is an artificial person who has some legal entity and limited possible liability. 

As, we already discussed in detail the general presumption as well as proper definition of company, we can now move forward to the features and applicability of the Companies Act in the territory of India. 

BRIEF HISTORY AND FEATURES OF COMPANIES ACT

The Companies Act, hereby refers to as the Act, primarily governs the establishment and operation of corporation as well as companies in India. The companies act in order to govern the operations of companies was passed in the year 1956 for the first time after independence, on the reference of Bhabha Committee. Subsequently after that, many changes are introduced and made in the act and finally in 2013, major vagaries were introduced. Now, as we already discussed the brief history, we will now move forward to discuss the features of the Act, in which we will discover more new changes and unique things which were incorporate for the first time in companies act of any country in the world. The features of the act are as follows: 

1. The act has brough the concept of Dormant Company. This is the type of company which is not in operation or inoperative from two business years. 
2. The act also brought the replacement of Company Law Board, as it introduced the National Company Law Tribunal. This tribunal adjudicates all the matter relating to the companies. 
3. The act provides through the amendment that, the records of any company should be entered and maintained in electronic form. 
4. The process of merging into the other companies or acquiring any interest in other company is now made easier than it was before. Also, the process is bit faster now in comparison to past years. 
5. The major feature of the act is that, it is mandatory for all the companies within the territory to come up with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies as well as group which will subsequently deal with the issues related to CSR in the companies or corporations. 
6. The act of 2013, also provides some major power to the shareholders, as it restricts the big transactions of company without the approval or the permission of these shareholders. 
7. Also, the company law provides provisions for women directors and it is also made compulsory or obligatory for some set of companies to have female directors. 
8. The act says that, the advance notice of seven (7) days is essential to call any board meeting of the corporations. 

APPLICABILITY OF COMPANIES ACT 

Under the previous heading we saw and deeply discussed the term company along with its rules and regulations which prevails in the territory. Now, under this section, we will try to explain the applicability of this act within the territory of India. Section 1 clause 4 of the Companies Act, 2013 gives us the title and tell us about its application in India. According to the first section, the act applies to: (a) all the corporations or firms incorporated under the act or under any previous acts, (b) all the insurance companies, except those which provisions are inconsistent or erratic with the Insurance Act as well as IRDA Act, (c) banks or banking corporation, except those banks whose provisions are inconsistent with Banking regulation Act of 1949, (d) Corporations or firms which are engaged in the business of generating and supplying electricity, except those provisions which are erratic to provisions of Electricity Act of 2003, (e) any other category of companies which are established and governed by some special laws, (f) any such body or corporations which are formed under the provision of any act, for the time being in force and as the government in the centre may decide in any manner. 

Thus, as we can observe from the above paragraph that, the Company Law, which was passed in the year 2013 is applicable to almost all corporations or companies of various different sectors which are present at the particular time in the country. Now, an important point to note here is that, the law although applies to all sectors corporations or firms but there are some restrictions present in that. The restrictions tell us that, the provisions of specific or particular laws which conflict with the company law, then to the extent of the conflict, the company law are not applicable rather the specific laws are applicable on the corporations and firms. Therefore, we can say that, the although the law is applicable to almost all the firms of different sectors but if the provisions are conflicting then the specific law of that particular area will prevail to the extent of conflict. 

CONCLUDING REMARK

The set of rules and regulations which governs the working of all the companies in the territory is drafted and passed a way back in the year 1956 and it is known by the name of Company Law. Once it is passed, all the corporations and firms which regulate their work or establishes themselves in the territory of India, then they must comply with the rules and regulations of the Company law, unless and until any special law provisions didn’t conflict with the company law. Also, according to section 1(4) of the act, the applicability of company law is on all banking corporations, insurance companies, electricity generating and supplying companies, and any such company which is established by any special provision or incorporated in any manner under the act. The last but not the least, in the context, the act of 2013 is not applicable to any such company which was unincorporated or separated. Therefore, in this article we studied in brief about the company & its definition along with the brief history and salient features. Towards the end we discussed one of the major issue which is the applicability of this act in the territory of India and hence acquires the knowledge of the same.     

REFERENCES 

1. The Companies Act, 2013 
2. Companies Act 2013 in a Nutshell, Blog, Taxmann
3. The application of Company Law an problems in the foreign invested enterprises, Pranav Sethi, i Pleaders. 
4. Company Law Series: Applicability of Companies Act, 2013 and New Concepts. 
5. Company Law, RD Vijaysekhar, Vijay Law Series 
6. Commercial’s Companies Act, 2013, 15^th Edition 2023. 

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