[Abhijnan Jha is a partner and Urvashi Misra is a senior associate at AZB & Partners, New Delhi] In April 2022, António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, drew the world’s attention to the alarming findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its third report. Concerned that major emitters were not taking requisite steps to fulfil their climate pledges, the Secretary...
Corporate Climate Litigation: Comparing ClientEarth-Shell with the Indian Regulatory Framework
[Dhanshitha Ravi and Santosh S are third and final year law students respectively at Symbiosis Law School, Pune] The United Kingdom High Court (“UKHC”) on the 12 May 2023 delivered a landmark judgment in the realm of corporate jurisprudence in a first of its kind climate-change based derivative action in ClientEarth v. Shell plc. This action was brought by ClientEarth, a minority shareholder in...
Section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013: An Avenue for Derivative Actions
[Rakshit Agarwal is a 2nd Year Student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The judgment of the Delhi High Court in ICP Investments v Uppal Housing Pvt Ltd has spurred the debate as to whether section 241 of the Companies Act 2013 (“Act”) is the appropriate provision under which derivative actions can be instituted. The decision in ICP Investments to include derivative...
Stricter Framework for Sale, Lease or Disposal of Undertaking by a Listed Entity
[Nitu Poddar is a Partner at Vinod Kothari and Company, and can be reached at [email protected]] Disposal of an undertaking (whole or substantially the whole) can be carried out either as part of a scheme of arrangement or otherwise by way of slump sale or business transfer agreement (‘BTA’). Disposal, other than by way of scheme of arrangement, has so far been regulated according to...
Constitutionality of Section 327(7) of the Companies Act 2013: Sanctity of the Waterfall Mechanism
[Simran Malhotra is an Associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi] In Moser Baer Karamchari Union v. Union of India (2 May 2023), workmen unions challenged the constitutionality of section 327(7) of the Companies Act (“Act”) for excluding preferential payment for workmen’s dues over other dues as provided under sections 326 and 327 of the Act in the event of liquidation of a company...
Cross-Border Merger Framework in India: Limited Efficacy?
[Rajat Sethi (Partner), Sumit Bansal (Partner) and Oshika Nayak (Associate) are at S&R Associates] The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) notified section 234 of the Companies Act, 2013, as amended (the “Companies Act”), and rule 25A of the Companies (Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations) Rules, 2016, as amended (the “Companies Merger Rules”), on April 13, 2017, to permit merger and...
Analyzing Directors’ Duty of Care under the Companies Act, 2013
[Rishabh Mohnot is a lawyer working in Mumbai and Hrithik Merchant a law student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] With the increasing proliferation of companies and their influence, there is a growing need to understand the responsibilities vested on their decision-makers. The Companies Act, 2013 (“2013 Act”) places a duty of care on the key decision-makers in a company...
Breaking the Rules: When Crowdfunding Platforms Cross the Line in Raising Capital
[Mohammad Kaif is a penultimate year student at Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi] Crowdfunding has become increasingly popular as a way to raise funds, where numerous individuals invest in a project or a company, usually via an internet-based platform. Some companies have used crowdfunding platforms to issue securities in violation of the provisions of Private Placement...
SEBI’s Proposals to Enhance Corporate Governance by Empowering Shareholders
Over the last decade and, in particular, following the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has been gradually and consistently strengthening the governance norms pertaining to listed companies. Among other measures, SEBI has sought to focus on two specific matters, viz., (i) enhancing transparency in corporate matters; and (ii) empowering...
Liability of Company Secretary for Misstatements: SC Remits Case to SAT
In November 2022, we had discussed a somewhat curious ruling of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in V. Shankar v. Securities and Exchange Board of India which exonerated the Company Secretary of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DHCL) from liability for certain misstatements and incorrect disclosures made by the company. We had noted that the SAT largely arrived at the ruling on first...
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