Tag: Company Law
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Electoral Reforms: Political Contributions by Companies
In the past, we have had a chance to discuss various issues pertaining to election campaign financing by the corporate sector (here, here and here). Last week, the Law Commission of India issued its Report No. 255 on Electoral Reforms that, among other matters, touches upon reforms in the area of corporate financing of political…
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Guide to Staff Loans under the Companies Act, 2013
[The following guest post is contributed by Munmi Phukon at Vinod Kothari & Co. The author can be contacted at munmi@vinodkothari.com] One of the incogruities in the Companies Act, 2013 (Act, 2013) has been section 186 which subjected companies to certain threshold limits while giving loans to any person or other body corporate. However, the…
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Report on Bankruptcy Law Reforms
The state of bankruptcy law in India continues to leave much to be desired, and adds to the difficulties in doing business in the country. Several previous efforts have been undertaken towards reforms, but they have either been introduced on a piecemeal basis or have not entirely been successful. With this in mind, the Government…
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The Liability of the Registrar of Companies for Negligent Entries
It was widely reported last week that Companies House in the UK had been ordered to pay damages of £8.8 million for making a spelling mistake. The case, of course rather more complex than that, is Sebry v Companies House and raised an important question of law: is the Registrar of Companies liable for loss…
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Paper on the Historical Evolution of Corporate Law in India
I have posted a paper on SSRN titled “The Evolution of Corporate Law in Post-Colonial India: From Transplant to Autochthony”. The paper seeks to track the evolution of corporate law in India from 1850 all the way until the enactment of the recent Companies Act, 2013, and to examine the different forces which were at…
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Supreme Court on Successor Liability
In the past, we have discussed the difficulties of imposing successor liability on the purchaser of a business when such liabilities pertain to those incurred by the seller prior to the sale and purchase transaction. This issue has come up (without satisfactory resolution) in the Bhopal gas tragedy. Now, it appears that there may be…
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Bonus Debentures: Features and Implications
[The following post is contributed by Prachi Narayan of Vinod Kothari & Company. She can be contacted at prachi@vinodkothari.com.] Introduction The reward of being a shareholder is singular: share in profits of the company. A few widely known forms of corporate rewards include cash dividends, bonus shares, preference shares, bonds, debentures, warrants and options, of…
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Supreme Court on Corporate Officers’ Criminal Liability
The Supreme Court of India on Friday issued its judgment in Sunil Bharti Mittal v. Central Bureau of Investigation on whether senior corporate officers are to be held criminally liable for acts of their companies. After an analysis of the law on the issue and its application to the facts of the case, the Court…
