Corporate Law

In order to catalyse entrepreneurship and let the start-up segment flourish, the Indian government has issued a notification dated February 19, 2019 ("Notification"), which sets out certain tax exemptions available to start-ups under the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("Act")....

The Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 ("2018 Ordinance"), issued on November 2, 2018 brought about significant changes to certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 ("Act"). The 2018 Ordinance was passed by the Lok Sabha, though could not be taken up by the Rajya Sabha and which was due to expire on January 21, 2019. In order to give continuity to the amendments introduced by the 2018 Ordinance, it was re-promulgated on January 12, 2019 by another ordinance i.e. the Companies Amendment Ordinance 2019 ("Ordinance") on January 12, 2019 with its provisions effective from November 2, 2018....

On 13th June 2018, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified Section 90 of the Companies Act, 2013 ("Act") and the Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Rules, 2018 ("SBO Rules"). Both aim to make transparent a company’s ownership by tracing the identity of the individuals who ultimately control the company....

In one of its recent decisions, the Kerala High Court ("Court")in Rasitha C.H. vs State of Kerala and Others has reinstated that merely on the basis of being contractual employees, women cannot be deprived of the maternity benefits. The judgement has been propounded by Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque. ...

The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ("Act") was implemented with the intention of amending the law related to promissory notes, bills of exchange and cheques. The Act has been amended time and again to ensure and enhance the trust in negotiable instruments. In furtherance to this, an amendment to the Act has been passed by introducing the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which was given the Presidential assent on the 2nd of August 2018, making the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amendment Act") come into existence. In furtherance to the assent, the Amendment Act has become effective from the 1st of September 2018, after being notified in the official gazette....

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amendment Act") has brought about significant amendments to the Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("Act"), the critical one being that specific performance is now (unless a case falls within the exceptions) the norm instead of a discretionary power with Indian Courts. Our present series of articles focus on the four exceptions to the specific performance rule. In Part 1 of the series we discussed substituted performance, in Part 2 we discussed contracts that involve a continuous duty which cannot be supervised by Courts, in Part 3 we discussed contracts involving personal qualifications and in this Part 4 we shall discuss the fourth exception that has been carved out i.e. contracts that are determinable in nature cannot be specifically enforced....

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amendment Act") has brought about significant amendments to the Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("Act"), the critical one being that specific performance is now (unless a case falls within the exceptions) the norm instead of a discretionary power with Indian Courts. Our present series of articles focus on the four exceptions to the specific performance rule. In Part 1 of the series we discussed substituted performance, in Part 2 we discussed contracts that involve a continuous duty which cannot be supervised by Courts and in Part 3 we discuss the third exception that has been carved out i.e. contracts involving personal qualifications cannot be specifically enforced....

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amendment Act") has brought about significant amendments to the Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("Act"), the critical one being that specific performance is now (unless a case falls within the exceptions) the norm instead of a discretionary power with Indian Courts. Our present series of articles focus on the four exceptions to the specific performance rule. In Part 1 of the series we discussed substituted performance and in Part 2 we discuss the second exception that has been carved out....

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amendment Act"), which has brought significant amendments to the Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("Act") was notified on August 1, 2018 and has become effective therefrom. While the Amendment Act has introduced various changes, one of the most significant change introduced is that specific performance of contracts has been made a rule rather than an exception. In our next series of articles, we focus on the four exceptions laid down in the Amendment Act to the specific performance rule....