Ken Adams at the Koncision Blog provides a commentary about the continued use of the somewhat archaic language in contracts involving Indian parties. The examples he cites include “unless repugnant to the context or meaning thereof” and “NOW THIS MEMORANDUM WITNESSETH AND IT IS HEREBY AGREED BY AND BETWEEN THE PARTIES HERETO AS FOLLOWS:” The simple question being posed is whether this usage aids...
Short Sellers, Short-Termism and Corporate Governance
I have been following a corporate battle that erupted last month in Singapore. Muddy Waters, a financial research firm based in the US, released a 133-page report on Olam International, a Singapore-based company, alleging several accounting flaws in the company’s financial statements that did not represent the true state of its financial health. Upon this announcement, the price of Olam’s shares...
RTI Act and SEBI Investigations
This is a bit dated (academic duties prevented regular blogging over the last few weeks), but on November 6, 2012, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) passed an order requiring SEBI to provide information regarding its investigation “into allegations of insider trading and short sale of shares pertaining to the shares of Reliance Petroleum in 2007”. The order was passed in response to an...
Settlement of Charges Between Indian Brokerages and the US SEC
Earlier this week, four Indian brokerage houses entered into settlements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for charges of carrying on brokerages services to institutional investors in the United States (US) without registration under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). The SEC’s press release and the orders pertaining to the four brokerages are available...
Should Government Companies Be Exempt From the Takeover Regulations?
Today’s Business Standard carries a report indicating that SEBI is in the process of considering a general exemption to the Government from making a mandatory open offer under SEBI’s Takeover Regulations 2011. This comes in the wake of two specific exemptions granted by SEBI this year in the case of IDBI Bank and IFCI whereby the Government was given special dispensation from making an open offer...
Australian Court on Rating Complex Financial Instruments
The Federal Court of Australia has delivered an important ruling that pertains to the liability of credit rating agencies. In Bathurst Regional Council v. Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd, the court found that Standard & Poors (S&P) was liable to several local councils in Australia for a AAA rating provided in connection with their investment in complex financial instruments...
Conference on ‘The Copyright Amendments, 2012: A fair Balance?’
[The following is a conference announcement from the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Society] The MHRD IP Chairs at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) and the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) are jointly hosting a two-day Conference on ‘The Copyright Amendments, 2012: A fair Balance?’ at NUJS on November 27 and 28, 2012. The conference is...
Trade, Law & Development: Special Issue on India and the World Economic Order
[The following is an announcement from the Trade, Law & Development journal] The Board of Editors of Trade, Law & Development is pleased to announce the theme for its next Special Issue (Vol. V, No. 1, Summer 2013): India and the World Economic Order. More than two decades ago, India abandoned its quasi-isolationist position and began implementing radical policy changes in order to fully...
Call for Papers: Indian Journal of Arbitration Law
[The following announcement comes from the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law] The Indian Journal of Arbitration Law is the flagship journal of the Centre for Advanced Research & Training in Arbitration Law [CARTAL], published under the aegis of National Law University Jodhpur. The inaugural edition of IJAL was launched in September and it would appear bi-annually, providing timely insights...
Petition on Composition of the Securities Appellate Tribunal
(The following guest post is contributed by Amit Agrawal, Advocate, regarding a petition filed before the Delhi High Court. Amit is representing the petitioner, although the litigation and its outcome will likely have a broader impact) A public interest litigation (PIL) has recently been filed before the Delhi High Court inter alia questioning the functioning of the Securities Appellate Tribunal...
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