ArchiveAugust 2014

Good faith in multi-tier dispute resolution clauses – Part I

One of the more significant contract law decisions to emerge from the English High Court in 2013 was the decision of Leggatt J in Yam Seng, which held that ‘good faith’ was a concept not limited to civilian legal systems and could be put to use in the interpretation of contracts in the common law world. Another decision of the High Court last month has now extended the dictum of Yam...

Foreign Investment in Rail Infrastructure

Following the liberalisation of foreign investment in the defence sector, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India has issued Press Note No. 8 (2014 Series) that now permits foreign investment in the railway sector. The permitted scope of business in the sector is as follows: Construction, operation and maintenance of the following: (i) Suburban corridor projects...

NLS Business Law Review (Volume 1): Call for Submissions

[The following announcement is posted on behalf of the Editors of the NLS Business Law Review] The NLS Business Law Review is an initiative by the National Law School of India University to recognise and foster academic research and scholarship in corporate and commercial law. The law review intends to examine the interface between the myriad regulatory frameworks that impact doing...

Liberalisation of Foreign Investment in Defence

A few weeks ago, the Cabinet had announced the liberalisation of the foreign investment policy in the defence sector. Now, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has issued the Press Note No. 7 (2014 Series) that implements the new policy. Some of the principal changes include the following: (i)         Increase in the sectoral cap: The maximum...

The Blue Paper and the Pink Paper: The Interpretation of Options

One of the most frequently encountered issues in the practice of commercial law is the construction of contractual notice requirements: a contract that confers on one of the parties the right to do something (eg exercise an option or a break clause) would ordinarily require that party to give notice to the other party. The consequences of failing to understand exactly what the notice requires and...

Are disputes in s. 397-398 petitions capable of being referred to arbitration?

A learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court recently considered (in Rakesh Malhotra v. Rajinder Malhotra) the question of whether disputes before the CLB under ss. 397-398 and 402 of the Companies Act, 1956 are capable of being referred to arbitration.  Patel J. concluded that having regard to the nature and source of the powers of the CLB, disputes in petition properly brought under ss...

Proposal to Further Boost Secondary Market Disclosures

One of our pet peeves has been the considerable disparity in the primary market disclosure norms where SEBI requires extensive disclosures when a company undertakes a public offering and in the secondary market disclosures norms where companies have to make continuous disclosures post-listing. The secondary market disclosure norms are considerably weaker than those for the primary markets...

Guest Post – Proposed Amendments to Arbitration Law: Part 2

[The following post is contributed by Prachi Narayan and Aditi Pal of Vinod Kothari & Company. They can be contacted respectively at [email protected] and [email protected] This is a continuation of a previous post] Powers of Tribunal and interim measures: Section 17 of the Act provides that the arbitral tribunal has the power to order interim measures of protection, unless the...

A Radical Idea for Restructuring Corporate Boards

Last week’s Schumpeter column in the Economist carries a provocative idea that involves a complete relook at the way boards of companies are structured and operated. It borrows a proposal from an article titled “Boards-R-Us: Reconceptualizing Corporate Boards” authored by two leading US corporate law academics. The column summarizes the proposal as follows: In the May edition of the Stanford Law...

Guest Post – Proposed Amendments to Arbitration Law: Part 1

[The following post is contributed by Prachi Narayan and Aditi Pal of Vinod Kothari & Company. They can be contacted respectively at [email protected] and [email protected]] Introduction On August 5, 2014, the Law Commission submitted to the Law Minister its 246th report on “Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996”. There has been much back and forth with respect...

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