Five judges of the United Kingdom Supreme Court are scheduled to hear an exceedingly interesting case on October 5 and 6, 2010, on what the Court of Appeal describes in the impugned judgment as a “short, but quite basic company law point”. The judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case – Progress Property v. Moorgarth Group, [2009] EWCA Civ 629 – is available here, and the point of...
Event Announcement: Mr. Soli Dastur’s Lecture on the DTC
Mr. S.E. Dastur, Senior Advocate, will be delivering the 1st K.A. Sathe Memorial Lecture at Symbiosis Institute of Management, Range Hills, Khadki, Pune on Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 9.45 a.m. Mr. Dastur, the country’s foremost tax expert, will be speaking on the Direct Taxes Code. The lecture is being organized by the Pune Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association. Readers who are in...
NLSIR: Call for Submissions
I have received the following call for submissions from the National Law School of India Review, which may be of interest to readers. “The National Law School of India Review (NLSIR) is the flagship law journal of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India. The NLSIR is a bi-annual, peer-reviewed law journal providing incisive legal scholarship about issues that are at...
Bombay High Court Upholds Section 14A and Rule 8D – Part II
In a previous post, the outline of the propositions in Godrej & Boyce v. DCIT was provided, followed by a discussion of the first issue before the Court. The other two issues, and the Court’s conclusions are discussed below. Section 14A(2) and (3) and Rule 8D are Constitutionally valid The next question posed by the case was whether the discretion granted to the AO by section 14A(2) and (3)...
Bombay High Court Upholds Section 14A and Rule 8D – Part I
Earlier posts discussed the decision of the Mumbai Special Bench of the ITAT in Daga Capital, and exceptions to the seemingly assessee-adverse ruling that had been carved by other tribunals and courts. The issue was then heard by the Bombay High Court, which finally pronounced judgment yesterday. The decision in Godrej & Boyce v. DCIT, has not provided as much of a reprieve to assessees as...
Entry of New Private Sector Banks
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a discussion paper on “Entry of New Banks in the Private Sector”, which paves the way for granting new banking licences. The discussion paper compares India’s position with international experience and then suggests possible approaches (listing both pros and cons) for the way forward. This analysis has been carried out along the following: 1. Minimum...
Relaxation of Free Float Requirement
Earlier, on June 4, 2010, the Ministry of Finance introduced a requirement that all listed companies must have a public shareholding of 25%. This was to bring about uniformity and create a level playing field for all listed companies, and was the result of detailed deliberations that spanned several years. Although the rule was met with consternation by industry due to the ensuing possibility of...
Some Thoughts on the Supreme Court’s Daiichi Opinion – The Significance of Paragraph 48
The Supreme Court’s judgment earlier this year on the SEBI Takeover Code is likely to prove extremely influential. A summary of the propositions that emerge from the judgment is available here, and comments on the SAT opinion are available here, and here. Two key issues deserve close scrutiny – the Supreme Court’s analysis of the relationship between Regulation 2(1)(e)(1) and 2(1)(e)(2)(i), and...
Supplemental Shareholding Disclosure Norms
In its board meeting held on August 4, 2010, SEBI introduced three changes to its norms requiring disclosure of shareholding patterns of listed companies. 1. Listing: The first change relates to companies undertaking an IPO. The current regime requires disclosure of shareholding pattern in the offer document and thereafter (after listing) on a quarterly basis with the stock exchanges under the...
Viability of Mandatory CSR
CNBC reports on a proposal by the Government to require companies to introduce mandatory CSR spending: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) spends will now be made mandatory for corporate India, sources in the Ministry of Company Affairs told CNBC-TV18. If approved, companies will have to spend 2% of the average net profit on CSR. Mandatory CSR will be made part of the amendment to the Companies...
Recent Comments