[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Law Review] The Board of Editors of the National Law School Business Law Review is pleased to invite original and unpublished manuscripts for publication in the Volume 7 of the Review.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...
Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law & Technology
[Announcement on behalf of the Indian Journal of Law & Technology] The Indian Journal of Law & Technology (IJLT) is now accepting submissions for Volume 17. Please send in your submissions before October 31, 2020 in order for them to be considered. About the Journal The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) is a student-edited, peer-reviewed, completely open access law journal...
Input Tax Credit under GST: The Misery of Innocent Buyers
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are II year students at Gujarat National Law University] In 2017, the Indian Parliament introduced the concept of Goods and Services Tax (“GST“). Designed to be a single, comprehensive, destination-based taxation system, it aimed to overhaul the existing indirect tax framework and unify the country in terms of how taxes are collected. An uninterrupted...
The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance 2020: A New Beginning?
[Manasvini Vyas is a 5th year student at National Law University Odisha] On 26 June 2020, the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (“the Act”) was amended by way of a presidential ordinance (the Ordinance’). The amendment seeks to bring urban cooperative banks (‘UCBs’) and multi-state cooperative banks (‘MCBs’) under the complete regulatory control of the RBI. This development assumes significance in the...
Post-Resolution Determination of Claims: A Dilemma for Creditor Rights
[Anchit Jasuja is a 3rd year law student at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] Given, the limitations of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) in determining the value of disputed claims during the resolution process, most resolution plans notionally admit the disputed claims with their repayment being dependent on the adjudication of the claim post the approval of the...
India’s Equalisation Levy, Digital Services Trade, and the Evolutionary Approach – Part II
[Ayushi Singh is a 5th year student at National Law University, Jodhpur] As mentioned in the previous post, USA could challenge the equalisation levy and similar digital services taxes for violation of the most favoured nation [MFN] treatment under article I of the General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS]. Before unpacking the possible arguments for an MFN action, some unique ambiguities...
India’s Equalisation Levy, Digital Services Trade, and the Evolutionary Approach – Part I
[Ayushi Singh is a 5th year student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Multilateral trade relations have suffered numerous blows from proponents of unilateral protectionism in the form of trade wars and economic warfare. The issue of digital taxation has the potential of becoming an additional blow. The United States Trade Representative [USTR] has announced the initiation of investigations...
The MSME Act and Arbitration Agreements: First Mover Advantage?
[Vaishnavi Chillakuru is a lawyer based in Mumbai] The primary objective of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (“MSME Act”) is to “provide for facilitating the promotion and development and enhancing the competitiveness” of micro, small and medium enterprises. To further this objective, the MSME Act contains provisions for dispute resolution which are applicable to...
Permanent Establishments: A note on DIT v. Samsung Heavy Industries
[Pragya Kaushik was a Law Clerk-cum-Research Assistant to Hon’ble Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman in 2019-20 and is a graduate from National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The determination of Indian tax liability of a foreign enterprise is a deeply contentious topic plaguing the Indian tax law regime. It involves a lot of complicated issues, one of them being the determination of...
Call for Blogs: HNLU Corporate and Commercial Law Blog
[Announcement on behalf of the HNLU Corporate and Commercial Law Blog] The HNLU Corporate and Commercial Law Blog (“CCLS Blog”) is established under the Corporate and Commercial Law Society of Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. The Society, created in 2017, is an independent, student-run body formed by corporate law enthusiasts of HNLU solely intending to promote discourse on...
Disgorgement in India: Takeaways from a Recent US Supreme Court Ruling
[Shaivi Shah is a 3rd year student and Palash Moolchandani a 4th year student, both at National Law University, Odisha] The Black’s Law Dictionary defines disgorgement as “the act of giving up something (such as profits illegally obtained) on demand or by legal compulsion”. In India, since the enactment of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, the tool of disgorgement has been...
SEBI Tightens Reins over the Proxy Advisory Industry
Proxy advisory firms have acquired the status of an important corporate governance intermediary. This is not just globally, but also in India. They play a crucial role of providing voting advice to shareholders (particularly of the institutional variety). In India, the advent of the proxy advisory industry over the last year has invigorated the active participation of institutional shareholders...
Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Arbitral Institutions: Where Do We Stand?
[Dhriti Mehta is a 2nd year LLB student at Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi] Over the past few decades, concomitant with the rise of international arbitration, institutional arbitration has increasingly become a preferred option for dispute resolution. The arbitral institutions wield significant influence concerning the arbitrator appointments. In cases where the parties...
Corporate Restructuring in India: The Cross-Class Cramdown Provision
[Aastha Agarwalla is a final year law student at Campus Law Centre. Faculty of Law, University of Delhi] The United Kingdom (UK) recently enacted a much-awaited economic legislation, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA). The CIGA introduces sweeping reforms, including a cross-class cramdown provision (CCDP), in the restructuring legal framework. The cramdown mechanism, inspired...
Paper on Shareholder Remedies: Oppression, Prejudice and Mismanagement
Under company law, shareholders (particularly the minority) can resort to various remedies prescribed thereunder, such as oppression, prejudice and mismanagement. While Indian company law has incorporated versions of shareholder remedies since the mid-20th century, the design of the remedies as they currently operate finds place in sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “2013 Act”)...
The Quick Heal Judgment: Optional versus Mandatory Reference to Arbitration
[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 Bombay High Court in its judgment dated June 5, 2020 in Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. v. NCS Computech Pvt. Ltd. was concerned with an application for appointment of an arbitrator. The central question for determination was as to the...
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