Sri Lanka e-ROC becomes defective worrying companies
Sri Lanka’s automated real- time company registration process launched with the aim of providing a more efficient and effective service by the Department of Registrar of Companies has now become a defective system with many technical faults, a Government Audit Inquiry has said.
The digital platform e- Registration of Companies ( e- ROC) is not fully operative at present due to defects in certain sections which are now blocked for the users including registered companies, company secretaries and new business aspirants.
Several shortcomings have been unearthed in the government audit on the performance of the electronic platform installed for the company registration process at an investment of Rs.57 million, on par with international standards in 2018.
This was the first time the company registration process in Sri Lanka, which has been practiced manually for 80 long years, has upgraded to an e-ROC system.
The Department of Registrar of Companies had failed to adhere to instructions given by the ICTA as the consultative agency in the maintenance of e-files, the audit inspection revealed.
In a letter to the President and the Finance Minister, a group of company secretaries noted that they had to face difficulties in rectifying their company-related issues as the Head of the Department and officials are not even answering telephone calls and not responding to e-mails.
These company secretaries pointed out that they had to pay a large sum of money as arrears and surcharges to the department not because of their fault but due to the defects in the e-ROC system.
Several corporate clients and foreign investors have been disappointed with the poor service of the department and some of them were planning to close down their ventures under the present circumstances, they complained.
It has been revealed that several Japanese investors have withdrawn their investments and left the island due to the negligence of the department officials.
Several buttons in the online system to log into company information were missing or malfunctioning from time to time and it was difficult to receive a receipt for online payment via credit cards to the department due to defects in the payment platform, they complained.
The government authorities will have to look in to this serious situation and rectify all shortcomings promptly they said adding that further upgrading of the system will have to be carried out under strict supervision of the Presidential Secretariat.
Several attempts to contact the head of the Department of Registrar of Companies and several senior officials were not fruitful as there was no one to answer telephone calls.