- Bribe Fighter
- 13 years ago
- 3380 views
Little trick saved thousands in bribe at company registrar office
Hello,
I am an entrepreneur and wanted to register a new private limited company for my new venture. Considering the nature of business (IT) and our unique selling points (USP) we created a nice name for the company. The first word of the company name was formed by abbreviating few of our USPs.
Also before filling the application to the company registrar office, we had downloaded the guideline document from http://www.mca.gov.in and we ensured the complete name of the company follows all rules mentioned in the document.
I will not share the first word of the company, as we do not want to point at the Mr. Registrar, but the company name goes like.... "XXXXXXX Technologies Private Limited"
The XXXXXXX is the actual word we formed by abbreviation of our company's USPs. According to the books this name is very much legitimate and valid. Our appointed CS (Company Secretary) filed the application to the Company Registrar. But Company registrar rejected it at least 3 to 4 times saying we do not know any word like that and hence cannot approve. We tried to explain that how Infosys is formed by abbreviating "Information" and "System" and we gave many other examples from even recent past.
After the rejection during one of the meetings with the CS Mr. Registrar (who has complete rights to approve a valid name) mentioned that you bring the promoters of the company to my office and demanded a bribe of about 7500/- (Rs. Seven Thousand Five Hundred)to approve the name. Please note the government fees for the application is about 1500/- only.
I made a plan and decided to ********** Mr. Registrar along with my CS. In his cabin I tried to explain him why are we keeping that name but he was rude and was not ready to listen. He said "Listen Young Man, You are a budding entrepreneur but do not waste my time". I also mentioned him that I am told, you would take some "fees" to approve this name. During all the meeting, I tried to act as if i am recording the complete event in my mobile camera.
The moment Mr. Registrar realized that I am trying to record, at once his complete stand changed 180 degrees and he said .."Well Young man, I would like to support entrepreneurs like you, so tell me why you want this specific name?"
Then he listened to my complete justification, I also tried to refer to the government guidelines and said, this name 'at least from guidelines' point of view get Qualified as a valid company name.
He accepted and instantly said you put up a fresh application along with a letter justifying the name and we shall approve it.
So, in short the fear of getting recorded a proof, prevented us from paying any bribe.
My suggestion is as far as possible, these processes should be made "human independent" at least there could be an Online tool given by the government on their website to enter and validate the name ourselves and take it further from there.
That's all folks is my story.
Best *******