ICLS Full Form

ICLS Full Form, Recruitment Process, Roles, Career Options & More

ICLS full form is Indian Corporate Law Service; it is a regulatory body that works for the corporate sector in India. It is considered a Group A service of Central Civil Services whose main functions are registered under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Indian Government.

History:

ICLS was established in the year 1967 as a technical service to regulate the Companies Act 1956; it was renamed Companies Law Service in the year 2002. This service was smoothly functioning under the Ministry of Finance Department until 2004; henceforth it was placed under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

One of the main objectives of the Indian Corporate Law Service is to look upon the corporate sector and empower it by protecting the rights of the investors, especially the small investors. ICLS is responsible for the implementation of the Companies Act 1956 and 2013 along with The Limited Liability Partnership Act of 2008.

Training and Recruitment:

Officers for the posts in ICLS are recruited by two methods such as:

  • Direct recruits
  • Promoted officers

Mostly the officers are selected by the direct recruit process. Selection through this method is followed since the year 2009 when the candidates are given the option to write the Civil Service exam which is hosted by the UPSC.

Candidates who belong to the Group B category of the Ministry are slowly promoted to senior posts over several years depending on their hard work and commitment. 

To learn in detail about the ICSL services the selected candidates are trained thoroughly in the ICLS academy named Haryana Campus of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs which is situated in Manesar. The subjects that are covered in the training include Financing, Accounting, Economics, Management, and Law. 

The officers are also given onsite training for better exposure in several offices all across India. As per the records, since the year 2009 IICA has trained a total of 9 batches of ICLS officers. All of them have cleared the Civil service examination conducted by UPSC.

Eligibility:

ICLS stands for Indian Corporate Law Service; its eligibility is almost the same as other posts of All India Civil Services. However, we will put some light on some main eligibility criteria’s below:

  1. The candidate applying for the post in ICLS must be a citizen of India.
  2. He must hold a graduation degree from a recognized university.
  3. The minimum age limit for applying is fixed at 22 years and the maximum age is 33 years. 
  4. Candidates with a professional background can also apply for ICLS posts.

Roles & Responsibilities

Indian corporate law service salary depends on the post and responsibilities taken. Apart from the fixed basic income, the officers are given several other benefits from the Indian government. We will now discuss a few responsibilities of an ICLS officer:

  • The main responsibility of ICLS is to regulate and manage the Companies Act, Limited Liability Partnership Act, and all other related acts.
  • To check and evaluate whether the companies are filling and updating their annual returns along with the balance sheets. They must also keep track of other main documentation.
  • To look at the companies that are registered with the government of India and the companies that are based on partnerships. 
  • ICLS can act as Registrar of Companies, and investigate if they find any discrepancies in the company. Depending on the foul play the Registrar of Companies can also initiate prosecution against that particular company. 
  • ICLS as Official Liquidators is responsible for liquidating various companies as ordered by the courts. 
  • They can take complete control of the companies and their assets, recovered debts, and even sell the assets of the company through public auctions.
  • As Regional Directors, ICLS officers are considered the heads of Regional Directorates. The RD’s are the most senior ICLS officer in that particular region. There are many Regional Directorates in India.

Career Paths:

The Hierarchy in ICLS posting is quite big and the officers tend to get promotions to different levels depending on their hard work. ICLS cadre officers can be posted as Assistant Directors (AD), Deputy Directors (DD), and Joint Directors (JD) to make sure all the companies are working together and sticking with all the norms of the Companies Act.

The ICLS officers can be promoted to Director of Inspection and Investigation to look into the matter of various companies that are not following rules and regulations. They work on those companies that are causing a huge loss in terms of revenue and profit to the government of India. 

Have the option of promotion as Director of Inspection and Investigation to probe matters into companies that are not abiding by the rules and causing revenue loss to the Government.

These officers are allowed to serve in SFIO- Serious Fraud Investigation Officer.