Category: Uncategorized
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Theoretical Foundations of Corporate Law: Ronald Coase
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] For those interested in theoretical aspects of the firm and their influence in corporate law, the Schumpeter column in the Economist discusses the academic life of Ronald Coase, who turns 100 this month. Here are some excerpts: The man who restored the pin factory to its rightful place at the heart…
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Consilience 2011: Conference on Privacy, Technology and the Law
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] The Law and Technology Committee (elTek) of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore is hosting ‘Consilience’, a conference where contemporary issues of critical relevance in the field of law and technology are addressed. Past editions of the conference have engaged with a vast spectrum of cutting edge issues such…
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Allahabad High Court Stay in the SEBI-Sahara Case
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] (This post has been contributed by Amit Agrawal, a legal practitioner practicing before Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur and an alumnus of National Law School of India University, Bangalore) In the SEBI-Sahara controversy, SEBI has previously issued an ad-interim order on November 24, 2010 (discussed previously on this Blog) against Sahara entities…
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Progress Property Affirmed: Unlawful Distribution of Capital
[Posted by V. Niranjan] “The rule is essentially a judge-made rule, almost as old as company law itself, derived from the fundamental principles embodied in the statutes by which Parliament has permitted companies to be incorporated with limited liability.” So said Lord Walker last week in delivering the judgment of the United Kingdom Supreme Court…
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Regulation of Stock Exchanges: Ownership and Governance
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] We have previously discussed the Bimal Jalan Committee report on “Review of Ownership and Governance of Market Infrastructure Institutions”. The report has been subject to intense debate, and the overwhelming view emerging is that the recommendations will destroy competition in the sphere. In this post, I attempt to list some of…
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“Professional” Independent Directors
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] In a recent Economic Times column, Prof. T.T. Ram Mohan discusses the concept of a professional board propagated by Lee Pozen in the Harvard Business Review (Dec. 2010, p. 50). The idea goes as follows: The author, Robert Pozen, lists reasons why boards are ineffective. They are too large (the average…
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Competition Commission decision on Bank Prepayment charges: The Meaning of ‘Agreement’
[Posted by Mihir Naniwadekar] The Competition Commission of India has issued its order in Case No. 5/2009 (decision dated 2nd December 2010), Neeraj Malhotra v. Deutsche Post Bank Home Finance Ltd. and others. A copy of the majority (4-2) decision is available here. Two dissenting orders are available here and here. The decision and the…
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The Supreme Court in BSNL v Reliance: Penalty and Liquidated Damages
[Posted by V. Niranjan] The complexity of the distinction between penalties and liquidated damages in English law is amply borne out by the fact that even McGregor’s remarkably concise and insightful account is forced to begin with a seventeenth century statute (18th edition, ¶¶13.001 onwards). For an elaborate account of the law, interested readers may…
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The Problem of Limitation under the Arbitration Act
[Posted by Shantanu Naravane] In Union of India v. Microwave Communication, the Delhi High Court was called on to consider a very important issue relating to the relationship between the Arbitration Act and the Limitation Act. In a remarkably clear decision, involving the interpretation of decisions of the Supreme Court and conflicting dicta from High…
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Further Observations on SEBI’s Order in the Sahara Case
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] (The following post has been contributed by Vijay Kumar, a lawyer and a company secretary by qualification, who is practising as an Advocate in the Chennai High Court with the law firm of Iyer and Thomas) Further to the earlier post on this Blog, a few aspects that emerge from the…