law: Company Secretaries Act, 1980
  21. Procedure in Inquiries Relating to Misconduct of Members of the Institute
  
  (1) Where on receipt of information by, or a complaint made to it, the Council
  
  is prima facie of opinion that any member of the Institute has been guilty of
  
  any professional or other misconduct, the Council shall refer the case to the
  
  Disciplinary Committee constituted under section 17, and the Disciplinary
  
  Committee shall thereupon hold such inquiry and in such manner as may be
  
  prescribed and shall report the result of its inquiry to the Council.
  (2) If on receipt of such report the Council
  
  finds that the member of the Institute is not guilty of any professional or
  
  other misconduct, it shall record its finding accordingly and direct that the
  
  proceedings shall be filed, or the complaint shall be dismissed, as the case
  
  may be.
  (3) If on receipt of such report the Council
  
  finds that the member of the Institute is guilty of any professional or other
  
  misconduct, it shall record its finding accordingly, and shall proceed in the
  
  manner laid down in the succeeding sub-sections.
  (4) Where the finding is that a member of the Institute has been guilty of a
  
  professional misconduct specified in the First Schedule, the Council shall
  
  afford to the member an opportunity of being heard before orders are passed
  
  against him on the case, and may thereafter make any of the following orders,
  
  namely :-
  (a) reprimand the
  
  member;
  (b) remove the name of
  
  the member from the Register for such period, not exceeding five years, as the
  
  Council thinks fit:
  Provided that where the Council is of opinion that
  
  the case is one in which the name of the member ought to be removed from the
  
  Register for a period exceeding five years or permanently, it shall not make
  
  any order referred to in clause (a) or clause (b), but shall forward the case
  
  to the High Court with its recommendations thereon.
  (5) Where the misconduct in respect of which the Council has found any member
  
  of the Institute guilty is a misconduct specified in the Second Schedule, it
  
  shall forward the case to the High Court with its recommendations thereon.
  (6) On receipt of any case under sub-section
  
  (4) or sub-section (5), the High Court shall fix a date for the hearing of the
  
  case and shall cause notice of the date so fixed to be given to the member of
  
  the Institute concerned, the Council and to the Central Government, and shall
  
  afford such member, the Council and the Central Government an opportunity of
  
  being heard and may thereafter make any of the following orders, namely :-
  (a) direct that the
  
  proceedings be filed, or dismiss the complaint, as the case may be;
  (b) reprimand the
  
  member;
  (c) remove him from
  
  membership of the Institute either permanently or for such period as the High
  
  Court thinks fit;
  (d) refer the case to
  
  the Council for further inquiry and report.
  (7) Where it appears to the High Court that
  
  the transfer of any case pending before it to another High Court will promote
  
  the ends of justice or tend to the general convenience of the parties, it may
  
  so transfer the case, subject to such conditions, if any, as it thinks fit to
  
  impose, and the High Court to which such case is transferred shall deal with it
  
  as if the case had been forwarded to it by the Council.
  Explanation I: In this section,
  
  "High Court" means the highest civil court of appeal, not including
  
  the Supreme Court, exercising jurisdiction in the area in which the person
  
  whose conduct is being inquired into is in service or carries on his profession
  
  or has his principal place of profession at the commencement of the inquiry :
  
  Provided that where the cases relating to two or more members of the
  
  Institute have to be forwarded by the Council to different High Courts, the
  
  Central Government shall, having regard to the ends of justice and the general
  
  convenience of the parties, determine which of the High Courts to the exclusion
  
  of others shall hear the cases against all the members.
  Explanation II: For the purposes of
  
  this section, "member of the Institute" includes a person who was a
  
  member of the Institute on the date of the alleged misconduct although he has
  
  ceased to be a member of the Institute at the time of the inquiry.
  (8) For the purposes of any inquiry under this section, the Council and the
  
  Disciplinary Committee referred to in sub-section (1) shall have the same
  
  powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908,
  
  (5 of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely :-
  (a) summoning and
  
  enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
  (b) the discovery and production
  
  of any document; and
  (c) receiving evidence
  
  on affidavits.