Ergo Update

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 9 July 2018 closed a case involving allegations of abuse of dominant position against Merlin Developers, Merlin Projects Limited (Merlin Developers and Merlin Projects Limited have been collectively referred to as Merlin), Merlin group companies and their office bearers (In Re: Cambridge Residents Welfare Association & Others And Merlin Developers & Others; Case No. 50 of 2017). The informants in this case, Cambridge Residents Welfare Association

The Chennai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has recently approved the merger of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) with a private limited company (Scheme). This newsflash analyses key aspects of the NCLT order permitting the aforesaid merger.

In the recent case of Modi-Mundipharma Private Limited v Union of India & Ors., (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 11802 of 2016), the High Court of Delhi (Court) has clarified that incremental innovation or novel drug delivery systems like lipid / liposomal formulations, sustained release, controlled release, etc.

On 4 June 2018 the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) passed an order (Order) in the case of Champatlal Jain, Parvin Dumasia and 6 Others (Complainants) v Suriti Developers Private Limited (MahaRERA Registration Number - P51800003082) (Respondent) and held that though the agreements for sale was cancelled by the Respondent before the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) came into force

One of the most significant legal reforms of the country in recent times has been the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013 (the 2013 Act) as this was a major step towards aligning Indian company law with the company laws prevalent globally. However, the 2013 Act faced multiple implementation challenges and various concerns were raised by industry stakeholders which led to further review and simplification of a few of the provisions of the 2013 Act.

Amidst growing investor appetite for Indian debt securities and increased government and corporate debt needs, the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route has been a dominant source of foreign funding. Liberalisation of the FPI route to allow investment in unlisted debt securities had further bolstered investments through this route. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have issued various circulars over the last couple of weeks

The Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), at their meeting held on 27 June 2019, has approved several changes to the regulations applicable to listed entities. The amendments to the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“Listing Regulations”), the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (“Takeover Regulations”), and the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (“Insider Trading Regulations”),are discussed below.

In a welcome move towards enabling issuance and listing of shares with differential voting rights in India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) at the meeting of its board on 27 June 2019 approved a framework for enabling listing in India of companies with dual classes of shares, i.e. superior voting rights shares (SR – Shares) and ordinary shares (SR – Shares Framework).

The Bombay High Court (Court), in its recent decision in Dinesh Jaya Poojary vs Malvika Chits India Pvt Ltd (Arbitration Petition No 549 of 2016), had the occasion to deal with the above question in a petition filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996 (Arbitration Act), which inter alia, challenging the award of an arbitral tribunal (Impugned Award) on the ground that the Arbitrator acted without jurisdiction.

Further to our Ergo Update on 4 July 2019, on the registration of the Internal Committee (IC) constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH) in the States of Maharashtra and Telangana, we sought further clarifications from the District Women and Child Development Department, to confirm if the requirement for registration of the IC constituted by employers would apply to the whole of Maharashtra or to only establishments in Mumbai.