Tag: Directors

Directors’ Actions: For Whose Benefit?

June 8, 2014

It is clear that directors ought to act in good faith for the benefit of the company. Since the company is a separate legal personality, there is often the question as to who represents the interests of the company. Generally, the interests of the company are said to equate with the interests of the shareholders,…
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Codification of Directors’ Duties: Is Common Law Excluded?

May 31, 2014

Background Hitherto, directors had negligible guidance under company law as regards their duties and liabilities. The preexisting Companies Act, 1956 (the 1956 Act) did not explicitly stipulate directors’ duties, which made it necessary to fall back on common law principles (to be articulated by courts while delivering specific decisions). The statutory uncertainty was compounded by…
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Companies Act, 2013: Directors’ Duties and Liabilities

April 12, 2014

The NSE Centre for Excellence in Corporate Governance (CECG) has issued its most recent quarterly briefing titled “Directors’ Duties and Liabilities in the New Era”. The executive summary is as follows: – Since directors and the board play a pivotal role in corporate governance, the law foists duties and liabilities on them; – The Companies…
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Guest Post: Directorship in a Company: Cap of Thorns

March 25, 2014

[The following post is contributed by Nidhi Bothra and Abhirup Ghosh at Vinod Kothari & Co. They can be contacted at nidhi@vinodkothari.com and abhirup@vinodkothari.com respectively] The Companies Act, 2013 (CA, 2013) brings about a sea change in the way the charter guiding corporate India will look like. The existing Act of 1956 has been the…
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Duties of Directors: a Recent Judgment

October 21, 2013

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Remedies against Directors’ Undue Gains: Personal or Proprietary?

September 12, 2013

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Directors’ Right to Information

July 20, 2013

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Shareholder Activism Enters the Boardroom

May 6, 2013

Over the last month or so, an interesting debate has surfaced that takes shareholder activism to the next level. As the Deal Professor column notes, two hedge funds have initiated proposals whereby they have promised to pay their nominees, if elected to the board of the investee company, director compensation linked to the profitability of…
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Indemnity clauses and criminal proceedings

November 29, 2012

Earlier this week, the Court of Appeal decided another interesting case involving contractual interpretation – this time interpreting and determining the scope of an indemnity clause. The case was one of the many fall-outs of the ongoing News of the World (“NOTW”) saga, and involved a claim brought by Mr Coulson, former editor of NOTW,…
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Low Take-up Rate on D&O Insurance Policies

November 21, 2011

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