[Meenal Maheshwari Shah is the lead transactional counsel of the Essar Group. The post was first published on In-House Community] A virtual currency (VC) is type of digital currency which is a representation of value, issued by private developers and denominated in their own unit of account. The concept of VC covers a wider array of “currencies,” ranging from simple IOUs of issuers (such as...
The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018: Applicable to Pending Proceedings? – Part I
[Rahul Sibal is an advocate who graduated from NALSAR Hyderabad. The author thanks Nilima Bhadbhade, and Varun Malik for their comments on the draft. However, the views expressed are the author’s alone.] An Expert Committee was constituted on 28 January 2016 with the purpose of reviewing the Specific Relief Act, 1963. The Committee recommended several substantive changes to the Act, with one of...
Delhi High Court on Amended Timelines under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act
[Divyansha Agrawal and Kanwar Abhay Singh are practicing lawyers at the Delhi High Court and are associate lawyers with Advani and Co.] Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 deals with the time limit for passing an arbitral award. Currently, the Act provides a time limit of 12 months after the pleadings are complete for the tribunal to complete the arbitration proceeding and...
New CSR Amendment Brings New Challenges for Implementing Agencies
[Tanya Nair is a 4th year B.A.LLB.(Hons.) student at NLIU, Bhopal] On 13 March 2020 the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) invited comments from the public concerning the draft Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2020. The draft amendment, once notified, will make significant changes to the corporate social responsibility policies of various companies. The MCA has...
Debarment of Company Auditor: A Cursory Death Note
[Shubham Nahata is a 3rd year student of Hidayatullah National Law University] Chapter X of the Companies Act, 2013 contains provisions for regulating audit and auditors of the companies. Among other things, the chapter deals with the appointment, removal, disqualifications, and resignation of company auditors. Recently, the Bombay High Court in N. Sampath Ganesh v. Union of India dealt with the...
Section 61 of the IBC: A Case for Contextual Statutory Interpretation
[Hitoishi Sarkar and Yash More are II year students at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] Section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 provides for appeals from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). However, section 61 does not mention, in express terms, any details regarding the mechanism for calculating the...
RBI Moratorium and NPAs: The Uncertainty Still Persists?
[Nikhil Purohit is a IV year student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and its responses such as the imposition of lockdowns have created significant financial disruption in economies globally. A recent interesting example could be seen in the crude oil prices touching negative territory for the first time. In order to ease the...
India’s FDI Policy Distances Itself from Neighbours: Can China bring an MFN Claim?
[Smriti Kalra is a IV year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] On 17 April 2020, the Indian government issued a press note which makes foreign direct investment (FDI) from “an entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country ”...
Amendment to the Threshold of Default under the Insolvency Code: Some Drafting Concerns
[Rohan Deshpande practices as a counsel at the Bombay High Court, and would like to thank Mihir Naniwadekar for his comments on a draft version] Section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 sets out the threshold of default for the purpose of invocation of insolvency proceedings under the Code. If a corporate debtor commits a default in repayment of debt towards a financial or an...
The Emerging Ambiguity in Determination of Supervisory Courts for Arbitration Seated in India
[Nikhil Pratap is a lawyer practising at the Supreme of India, High Court at Delhi and other commercial tribunals in Delhi] The Supreme Court in its recent judgments culminating in BGS SGS Soma JV v NHPC Ltd has attempted to provide finality to the issue of determination of the ‘supervisory courts’ for arbitrations seated in India (see here and here). In an attempt to enable convergence of all...
Recent Comments