Corporate Law

On September 28, 2020, three new labour law codes namely, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 ("Codes"), received the President’s assent. ......

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a soft law in most countries and is considered voluntary, self-regulated and beyond the scope of legislation. The concept of CSR is usually associated with companies voluntarily undertaking activities to achieve social and environmental objectives during the course of their daily business operations. ......

The scope of Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) is very broad. The Section empowers the Court to grant various “interim measures of protection” including orders for securing the amount in dispute, preservation of property, interim injunctions and appointment of receivers. The Section also empowers the Court to grant such other interim measure of protection “as may appear to the court to be just and convenient”. ......

With the addition of more startups every year, India has developed and is witnessing one of the largest startup ecosystems in the world. While, the number of startups is on a continuous and stark rise, in May 2020, Nasscom was seen as reporting – “COVID 19 Impact – 9 out of 10 Startups Bleeding in India”. Majority of startups in India, are bleeding more so than ever before due to the grim economic condition of the country thanks to COVID-19. ......

The recent months have amply shown us the importance of developing and maintaining healthcare infrastructure, whether digital or physical. Each day has seen us critically scan the statistics to try and understand the impact of the novel coronavirus ("Covid 19") on our towns and cities. The Government, in its turn, launched several apps and services such as Aarogya Setu, to control and monitor the spread of the disease. ......

In a recent order issued by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ("NCLAT") in the case of Sushil Ansal Vs. Ashok Tripathi , the NCLAT has held that a decree-holder cannot be treated as a financial creditor for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings against a company. ......

McDonalds, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Domino's Pizza, and The Hard Rock Café - iconic brands, household names but above all, franchise behemoths. These franchises have made inroads to the farthest corners of the planet, from the barbed wire surrounding the single McDonalds in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay to Dominos’ Almond Citrus Seafood pizza in Vietnam. ......

Criminal contempt has been recognized as the action of publishing any matter including by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise, or any other act which (i) scandalises or tends to or lowers or tends to, the authority of any court; (ii) prejudices or interferes with due course of judicial proceedings; or (iii) interferes or obstructs the administration of justice in any other manner1. Criminal contempt is considered to create distrust in the popular mind and impair the confidence of the people in the courts, hence, the law has been put in place to protect the legitimacy and authority of the court. ......

In the light of disruptions caused by outbreak of Covid-19, the Government of India has announced a slew of measures in the past few months. One such significant measure is the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to decriminalize thirty-nine minor economic offences including decriminalization of offence of dishonour of cheques under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (“NI Act”). ......