•The Indian Corporate Law Service(ICLS) is one of the Central Civil Services (Group A)
•It is the regulatory service for corporate sector in India which functions under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.
•The service is entrusted with the responsibility of the implementation of Companies Act,1956, Companies Act, 2013 and The Limited liability Partnership Act, 2008.
•The overall mandate for the service is empower and regulate the corporate sector for this country and to protect the rights of the investors, especially small investors.
History
•The ICLS was established in 1967 for the effective implementation and administration of the Companies Act.
•Originally, the service was named Company Law Service.
•In 2002, it was renamed as Indian Company Law Service.
•The service was renamed as Indian Corporate Law Service in 2008 and was brought into the fold of Civil Services Examination so as to attract the best of the talent with a view to meet the challenges of the burgeoning Indian Industry and to reflect the changes the Indian corporate sector has undergone in the last couple of decade.
•Until 2004, the service functioned under the Ministry of Finance. Since then it has functioned under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Recruitment
•There are two streams of recruitment to the Indian Corporate Law Service - Direct Recruits and Promoted Officers.
•Since 2009, direct recruitment to Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) is through Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC.
•Members belonging to Group B Service employed with the Ministry are gradually promoted over several years of service. The current ratio of two streams is kept at 3:2.
Training
•The ICLS officers initially take the Foundation Course at LBSNAA or other Academies approved by the Government of India.
•Thereafter, they undertake their induction training at the ICLS Academy, located at Manesar, Haryana Campus of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA).
•They are provided training in subjects like Finance, Accounting, Management, Economics and Law.
•In addition to the classroom training the POs are also provided hands on training in various offices across India.
Roles and Functions
•To administer the Companies Act, the LLP Act and a few other related acts.
•As Registrar of Companies (RoC), the officers register the companies and partnerships floated. It is their duty to ensure that all the companies are filing their annual returns and balance sheets, and all other documents.
•The RoC can also carry out investigation and initiate prosecution against criminal and civil offences in this regard.
•As Official Liquidators (OLs), the officers are responsible for liquidating the companies as ordered by the courts. They are responsible for taking control of the companies’ assets, recover debts, sell the company assets via public auction, settle creditors’ claims, etc.
•As Regional Directors (RD), the officers are the heads of the Regional Directorates. The RD is the senior most ICLS officer in a region, there being seven Regional Directorates in India. The RDs supervise the work of the RoCs and the OLs.
Hierarchy and Salary
Service at a glance
•The service has become extremely important today due to the culture of start ups and the growth of the private companies in India.
•The officers have a decent promotional prospects.
•It is an intellectual type of job where you need constant updation of knowledge and skills.
•The officers are usually posted in major cities and have stability of tenure that ensures good personal life.