[Ajar Rab is a partner and Ankit Singh an associate at Rab & Rab Associates LLP, Dehradun] The Indian arbitration legal regime is often a subject of criticism, and the government has tried to plug the loopholes by bringing in several policy changes including amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (“Act”). The most recent amendment passed in August 2019 (“Amendment”) was...
ARCs and Insolvency Resolution Plans: The Enigma of Equity vs Debt
[Sikha Bansal is a Partner at Vinod Kothari & Company] A regulatory framework for asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) was introduced in India through the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act). This intended to put in place a system for clearing up non-performing assets (NPAs) from the books of banks and financial...
The Use of Circumstantial Evidence in Securities Law Enforcement
[Shruti Rajan is a partner in the Financial Regulatory Practice at Trilegal. Vidhi Shah is an associate with the Financial Regulatory Practice at Trilegal.] Quasi-judicial authorities are not bound by strict rules of evidence. It is settled law that they are “entitled to act on material that may not be accepted as evidence in a court of law,” and examine all relevant information and data in...
SEBI’s New Pledge/Re-Pledge System Overhaul: An Appraisal
[Gayatri Puthran is a 3rd Year B.B.A., LL.B. student at the Jindal Global Law School] In a bid to promote ease of doing business, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) on 2 September 2020 by way of its circular titled ‘Disclosures on Margin obligations given by way of Pledge/ Re-Pledge in the Depository System’ (‘Disclosure Circular’) dispensed with certain disclosure...
Applicability of the Limitation Act to the IBC: The Curious Case of Veer Gurjar
[Yashika Gupta is a 5th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur] On 14 August 2020, the Supreme Court (“SC”), yet again, cleared the air on the applicability of the Limitation Act, 1963 (“Limitation Act”) to the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“the Code”). In Babulal Varsharji Gurjar v. Veer Gurjar Aluminium Industries Pvt. Ltd., it categorically...
Audio-Perspectives on Bankruptcy Law during the Pandemic
In times of acute financial distress, such as these, one might expect to see bankruptcy practitioners and scholars to be the busiest. Bankruptcy law is often used as a tool to mitigate and deal with the impact of financial distress. As financially distressed firms and creditors seek the refuge of the law for debt recovery and re-organisation, one is likely to see an uptick in bankruptcy cases and...
NCLT’s Riddled Take on Enforcement of Foreign Awards under the IBC
[Sridutt Mishra is a 5th year student and Parthsarthi Srivastava is a 4th year student, both at National Law University Odisha] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) has always witnessed friction with respect to claims arising out of arbitration. In 2018, the Supreme Court settled the highly contested issue of whether an arbitral award pending challenge under section 34 of the...
Expert Evidence in Arbitration: Should India Dip Its Toes in the Hot-Tub?
[Harsh Srivastava is a 5th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] For long, India has been seen as a ‘non-arbitration friendly’ jurisdiction owing, inter alia, to the length, costs and inefficiency of the proceedings. Efforts have been made to improve the arbitral framework of the country by incorporating international best practices and...
Litigation against Credit Rating Agencies: Delhi High Court Delineates the Scope
[Kajal Singh and Nikunj Maheshwari are 4th year law students at the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad.] Credit rating is a mechanism to address the asymmetry of information in the debt investment market, where the independent credit rating agencies (‘CRA’) rate the debt instruments issued by the borrower company (‘client’). Clients, to get their instruments rated, enter into an...
Arbitrability of Fraud and the ‘Public Flavour’ Standard
[Karan Kamath is a 2020 B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune.] On August 19, 2020, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court decided Avitel Post Studioz Ltd. v. HSBC PI Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd., wherein the central question related to arbitrability of fraud, in an appeal arising out of the Bombay High Court’s decision in a petition under section 9 of the Arbitration and...
Call for Submissions: 5th Gary B. Born Essay Competition on International Arbitration
[Announcement on behalf of CARTAL] The Centre for Advanced Training and Research in Arbitration Law (‘CARTAL’) provides a platform for academicians, professionals and students to interact and discuss contemporary issues in arbitration law. The mandate of the Centre is achieved by the organization of workshops, conferences and guest lectures to facilitate the understanding of such issues. ...
Banning Short-Selling During Financial Crises – An Optimal Approach?
[Talin Bhardwaj is a third-year student of B.A. LL.B (Hons.) at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala] The unprecedented circumstances emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic have created major instability in the financial markets of various countries that has been detrimental to the confidence of investors. This economic crisis has forced financial regulators around the world to take...
Amendment to CIRP Regulations: Another Step towards a Creditor Friendly Code?
[Priyasha Goyal is a graduate of the Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 (‘CIRP Regulations’) were amended vide a notification dated 7 August 2020. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘the Code’) has been formulated with the objective of reducing the time taken for resolution...
Analysing MCA’s Proposed Framework on Business Responsibility Reporting
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are III year students at Gujarat National Law University] On August 18, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released the Consultation Paper on the format for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in India. Interestingly, on August 11, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had also released the Report of the Committee...
End to the Confusion on Amended Timelines under Section 29A of the Arbitration Act
[Divyansha Agarwal and Kunwar Abhay Singh are practicing lawyers at the Delhi High Court, and are associate lawyers with Advani and Co.] On July 21,2020, the Delhi High Court, in the matter of ONGC Petro Additions v Fernas Constructions Co. Inc., finally brought an end to the long-drawn confusion on the applicability of the amended timelines under section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation...
UKSC Decision in Sevilleja: Reflective Loss, Creditors and Implications for India
[Rohan Deshpande practices as a Counsel at the Bombay High Court, and Karan Kamath is a 2020 B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune. The authors would like to thank Mihir Naniwadekar for his comments on a draft version] The UK Supreme Court in its decision dated July 15, 2020 in Sevilleja v. Marex Financial Ltd. had to determine whether the rule against ‘reflective loss’...
The Future of Virtual Meetings under the Companies Act
[Gaurav Pingle is a Practising Company Secretary and Renucka Vaiddya a Research Associate at Gaurav Pingle & Associates] The Companies Act, 2013 has, at the outset, provided for conducting board meetings through video conferencing. In Achintya Kumar Barua v Ranjit Barthkur [2018] 91 taxmann.com 123, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) held section 173(2) of the Act read with...
E-Commerce Rules 2020: Protecting Consumer Welfare or Harming Individual Enterprise?
[Dhanush Dinesh is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into force on July 20, 2020. This statute supersedes the older Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and has been updated to reflect and incorporate modern forms of commerce, such as online shopping and tele-commerce. In furtherance of this, specific rules have been notified...
NLS Business Law Review: Call for Submissions
[Announcement on behalf of the National Law School Business Law Review] The Board of Editors of the National Law School Business Law Review is pleased to invite original and unpublished manuscripts for publication in the Volume 7 of the Review. About the Institution The National Law School of India University is an institution of legal education focusing on legal and policy education in India at...
Examining the Issues with Free Supplies under GST
[Manasvin Andra is a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at NALSAR University, Hyderabad] Promotional offers have long been used by companies to draw attention to their products. These strategies have generally proved successful, as they incentivise consumers to buy more of the designated good. However, the tax treatment of these free supplies changed with the emergence of the GST, leading to...
Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020: An Analysis
[Sumit Kumar Gupta is a 4th year student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences] Governments across jurisdictions have always maintained a delicate balance between the competing interest of consumers and the dynamics of the market. True to its nature, markets have undoubtedly been inclined towards profit maximization, while consumers have sought to exploit the scant margin...
Recent Antitrust Issues in the US – Learnings for the Indian Competition Regime
[Vanshika Katiyar and Rajat Maloo are 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.] On 29 July 2020, the heads of America’s largest tech giants, namely, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook testified before the United States’ Congress. The members of the antitrust committee of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives...
Force Majeure, Frustration and Impossibility: A Qualitative Empirical Analysis
[Smaran Shetty is a Senior Associate with Keystone Partners and Pranav Budihal is an LLM Candidate at the National University of Singapore] Force majeure has become a fairly common ground to avoid the performance of contractual obligations in a post Covid-19 world. In a time when lawyers and parties seek to examine their force majeure clause and reassess their contractual arrangements, we have...
Call for Blogs: The IP Law Post
[Announcement on behalf of the IP Law Post] We are a group of HNLU students with a keen interest in Intellectual Property Law. By means of this blog, we aim to facilitate dialogue and debate on recent domestic and international developments. With the tremendous growth in technology, art and industry, IP has touched many facets of our lives such as business, innovation, sports, fashion, media...
Tug of War between Nominee and Legal Heir: The Debate Continues
[Abolee Vilas Vaidya is a Legal Analyst at Landryt and Priyanka Pillai an Associate at IC Universal Legal, Mumbai] The tussle between nominees and legal heirs in respect of shares of a company has always been a cause of sizeable confusion. The solution may seem to be a simple determination of whether the rights of the nominee under section 72 of the Companies Act, 2013 can override the rights of...
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