Company Secretaries Act, 1980
5. Associates and Fellows
(1) The members of the Institute shall be
divided into two classes designated respectively as Associates and Fellows.
(2) Any person other than a person to whom the
provisions of sub-section (4) apply, shall, on his name being entered in the
Register, be deemed to have become an Associate and as long as his name remains
so entered, shall be entitled to use the letters "A.C.S." after his
name to indicate that he is an Associate.
(3) A person, being an Associate who has been
in continuous practice in India as a Company Secretary for at least five years
and a person who has been an Associate for a continuous period of not less than
five years and who possesses such qualifications or practical experience as the
Council may prescribe with a view to ensuring that he has experience equivalent
to the experience normally acquired as a result of continuous practice for a
period of five years as a Company Secretary shall, on payment of the prescribed
entrance fee, which shall not exceed four hundred rupees in any case, and on
application made and granted in the prescribed manner, be entered in the
Register as a Fellow.
Explanation I: For the purposes of
this sub-section, a person shall be deemed to have practised
in India for any period for
which he has held a certificate of practice under section 6, notwithstanding
that he did not actually practice during that period.
Explanation II : In computing the period during which a person has been
an Associate of the Institute, there shall be included any continuous period
during which the person has been an Associate of the dissolved company
immediately before he became an Associate of the Institute.
(4) Any person who was a Fellow of the
dissolved company and who is entitled to have his name entered in the Register
under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 4, shall be entered in the
Register as a Fellow.
(5) Any person whose name is entered in the Register as a Fellow shall, so long as his name remains so entered, be entitled to use the letters "F.C.S." after his name to indicate that he is a Fellow.