[Announcement on behalf of the Indian Competition Law Review] The Centre for Competition Law and Policy (“CCLP”), NLU Jodhpur, is pleased to invite submissions for Volume VII Issue II of Indian Competition Law Review (“ICLR”). About National Law University, Jodhpur National Law University Jodhpur (NLUJ) is one of the foremost law schools in India. Since its establishment in 1999, it has...
Cox and Kings Judgment: Revisiting the Group of Companies Doctrine
[Natasha Matange and Dharmvir Brahmbhatt are 4th and 5th year students at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] Arbitration has been growing as a method of dispute resolution in recent years both in India and abroad. It is more formal than mediation, yet has certain procedural similarities to litigation. The essence of arbitration is rightly considered to be consent. It is recognised by...
The Need for an Ex -Post Assessment Framework to Tackle Killer Acquisitions in India
[Vishnu Bandarupalli is a third-year BA. LLB (Hons.) student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad] Zomato’s acquisition of Uber Eats, Ola Cabs’ acquisition of TaxiForSure, Myntra’s acquisition of Jabong.com and, more recently, the merger of PVR and Inox—what is common between these corporate deals? They have arguably resulted in the consolidation of market power without triggering an antitrust...
Writ Petitions Not Ordinarily Maintainable against Non-Interim Arbitral Orders
[Anujay Shrivastava is an Advocate (India-qualified) and incoming LLM candidate at the University of Cambridge, and Abhijeet Shrivastava is a final year law student at Jindal Global Law School, India] Recently, a single judge of the Delhi High Court issued an order in Easy Trip Planners Ltd. v. One97 Communications Ltd. (25 July 2022), where it precluded a party from challenging an ‘order’ of an...
Unpaid License Fees as ‘Operational Debt’: The Ambiguity Persists
[Soundarya Rajagopal and Palak Sheth are 4th year B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) students at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] In Jaipur Trade Expocentre Pvt. Ltd. v. Metro Jet Airways Training Pvt. Ltd. (“Jaipur Trade”), a full-bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) held that dues in relation to lease and license of immovable property constitute ‘operational debt’ under...
Analysing the Effect of the Supreme Court Judgement in Indian Oil Corporation Limited v. NCC Limited
[Dhiraj Abraham Philip is an Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court of India and a Partner at the law firm, Dua Associates] The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 20 July 2022 in Indian Oil Corporation Limited v. NCC Limited, held that even after the insertion of sub-section (6-A) in section 11, the scope of inquiry by the Court was not confined to the examination of whether a binding...
Supreme Court Decision in Vidarbha: Return to the Pre-IBC Era
[Abhismita Goswami is a Trainee Associate at Mindspright Legal, Mumbai] An application for initiating a corporate insolvency resolution process (“CIRP”) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”/ “Code”) can be filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) by the financial creditors (“FCs”) and operational creditors (“OCs”) of a corporate debtor (“CD”), under section 7 and...
Call for Posts: Centre for Corporate Law, National Law University Odisha
[Announcement on behalf of the CCL Blog] The CCL Blog is a two-tier peer-reviewed blog affiliated with the Centre for Corporate Law, National Law University Odisha. The blog aims to further the goal of increasing the quality of knowledge on nuanced areas of corporate law and increase the engagement and discussions on the present-day issues of contention. This would help bolster research within...
Analysing CCI’s Order Directing Investigation against BookMyShow
[Tarusi Jain is a third year student at O.P Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] On 16 June 2022, the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) passed an order against Big Tree Entertainment Private Limited (‘BookMyShow’) and directed the Director General (‘DG’) to investigate the allegations of abuse of dominance by BookMyShow in the market for online intermediation services for booking of movie...
Call for Papers: Hidayatullah National Law University Student Review
[Announcement on behalf of HNLUSR] General Information The Hidayatullah National Law University Student Review (HNLUSR) seeks to publish innovative, original scholarship that significantly contributes to the field of law. HNLUSR is a bi-annual publication, student-edited, peer-reviewed, open-access law journal dedicated to publishing legal scholarship by lawmakers, judges, practitioners...
Analyzing the Business Judgement Doctrine in the Indian Context
[Dhvani Shah is a penultimate year student at Gujarat National Law University] In January 2022, the Rajasthan High Court stayed trial court proceedings against Mr. Pratip Chaudhuri, ex-SBI Chairman, for an alleged bank loan scam. Mr. Chaudhuri was arbitrarily arrested for discrepancy in the sale of a non-performing asset (NPA) of the bank, i.e., the “Garh Rajwada hotel” to the Alchemist Asset...
Section 14, SARFAESI Act: Settling A Jurisdictional Conundrum
[KV Kailash Ramanathan is a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kochi] Section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (“SARFAESI Act” or “Act”) provides for judicial assistance to creditors in enforcing their security interest as envisaged under section 13 of the Act. A...
Extension of Insider Trading Regulations to Mutual Funds
[Ajitesh Arya is the 4th year BA LLB (Hons.) students at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad] Recently, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) floated a consultation paper proposing the expansion of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 [Insider Trading Regulations] to encompass mutual fund units. The move is interesting as it comes in the aftermath of a front...
Mortgage on Movable Property: Whether an Attractive Option for Lenders?
[Sikha Bansal is a Partner and Shraddha Shivani an Executive at Vinod Kothari & Company] Pledge, hypothecation and mortgage are all forms of security interest, albeit with different features. Although the common objective of any form of security interest is to create a right in rem (rather than in personam) in favour of the lender, the effectiveness of the security interest would depend on...
SC Clarifies Discretionary Nature of Section 7(5)(a), IBC for Admission of Application
[Anshita Dave and Abhyudaya Yadav are 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur] The issue concerning the nature of section 7(5)(a) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the “Code”) has been addressed by the Supreme Court of India in its recent decision in Vidharbha Industries Power Ltd v. Axis Bank Ltd. (12 July 2022), wherein the Court has...
Call for Submissions: 7th Gary B. Born Essay Competition on International Arbitration, 2022
[Announcement on behalf of the Centre for Advanced Research and Training in Arbitration Law & Indian Journal of Arbitration Law, National Law University, Jodhpur] Themes: Harmonising principles on joinder and consolidation: necessity or an issue taken too seriously? Reconciling arbitration with insolvency proceedings and corporate restructuring; Third-party funding and disclosures in...
Redefining the Contours for Admitting an Application by Financial Creditors
[Kavya Lalchandani is a Master of Corporate Law student at University of Cambridge] In a judgement dated 12 July 2022, in Vidarbha Industries Power Limited v. Axis Bank Limited, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that admission of the application under section 7(5) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC or the Code) which is made by a financial creditor is discretionary while admission of an...
The Conundrum of Inter-se Priorities between Secured Creditors in Liquidation
[Arvind Tiwari is a IV year student at the National Law University, Delhi] The recent ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) in Oriental Bank of Commerce v. Anil Anchalia has rekindled the debate concerning the significance of inter-se priorities among secured creditors in the process of liquidation. In this matter, it was held that once a secured financial...
Analysing the Co-Investment Framework in India
[Dharmvir Brahmbhatt and Devarsh Shah are fifth year students at Gujarat National Law University] Over the last three decades, private equity investments in India and overseas have witnessed phenomenal development. Institutional investors have been attracted to the asset class owing to its persistent outperformance of public market benchmarks. Historically, commingled funds or “blind pools” of...
RBI Bans Loading of Prepaid Payment Instruments From Credit Lines
[Manasi Chandriani Shah is a Solicitor (B.I.L.S)] Fintech entities, wallet providers, and non-banking financial companies have been mandated to pull the chains on all existing arrangements to facilitate or extend loans through prepaid payment instruments (“PPI”), including cards and wallets. Extending a credit line through any PPI has been prohibited by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”). This ban...
Utilisation of Accumulated Surplus by Section 8 Companies
[Pammy Jaiswal is a Partner and Shraddha Shivani an Executive at Vinod Kothari and Company] Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides for the formation of companies with specific objects. The profits earned by such companies necessarily get redeployed to pursue the very same objects for which the company is formed and cannot be distributed to the shareholders. There are several restraints to...
Debunking Special Situation Funds: Is India Ready for the Vultures?
[Aditya Shekhar and Abhishek Choudhary are Vth year B.A., LL.B. (Business Law Hons.) students at National Law University, Jodhpur] The need for inclusion of special situation fund [“SSF”] in the Indian financial market was felt due to India’s bad debt problem. It is evident from the recent trend and eagerness of financial institutions to sell off their non-performing assets [“NPA”], which...
Supreme Court on Pledge of Shares: Insider Trading Regulations May Require Review
[Vinita Nair is a Senior Partner at Vinod Kothari & Co.] Recently, in PTC India Financial Services Limited v. Venkateshwar Kari, the Supreme Court held that ‘beneficial ownership’ in the context of the Depositories Act should not be confused with beneficial ownership under general law as it is merely a procedural precondition to sale by the pledgee. Further, the Court found that there is no...
Supreme Court on Pledge of Shares: Takeover Regulations May Require Review
[Vinita Nair is a Senior Partner at Vinod Kothari & Co.] In PTC India Financial Services Limited v. Venkateshwar Kari, the Supreme Court of India brought out a very important distinction between the meaning of ‘beneficial owner’ under the depository legislation, and the right of the pledgee or security interest holder to cause the sale of goods pledged by pledgor in terms of the rights...
Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Proof in PMLA Proceedings
[Raghav Bhatia is an Advocate practising at the Supreme Court of India. Hima Prajitha is an Advocate, practising before courts in Andhra Pradesh] Recently, the Supreme Court of India in J. Sekar @ Sekar Reddy v. Directorate of Enforcement, has observed that the standard of proof in proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (“PMLA”) is beyond reasonable doubt and not...
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