The Supreme Court of India (Supreme Court), vide its judgment in M/s Emaar MGF Land Limited v Aftab Singh (Review Petition (C) Nos 2629-2630 of 2018 in Civil Appeal Nos 23512-23513 of 2017), has conclusively decided that if a dispute brought before the consumer forum (consumer dispute/s) arises from an agreement which has an arbitration clause, the consumer forum will be the appropriate forum for hearing the dispute.
On 17 December 2018, the Hon’ble Bombay High Court (Court), in Ravi Arya & Ors v. Palm View Overseas Limited & Ors, passed an important order in relation to an anti-arbitration injunction sought by the Plaintiffs in the matter, against an arbitral proceeding seated in Mumbai.
Presently, India does not have an estate duty. The Estate Duty Act, 1953 which sought to impose an estate duty in India on property passing on demise was repealed in the year 1985. Is the estate duty a relic of the past? Rumours are rife that an estate duty will soon be re-introduced in India. Further, while there is no specific gift tax legislation in India today, gifts among ‘relatives’ as defined in the domestic tax legislation are exempt from taxes. Thus, the transfer of assets through testamentary or intestate succession is not subject to any tax today.
In a recent case of The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Shri Subodh Menon (ITAT order dated 7 December 2018), the Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) has held that a shareholder cannot be taxed under Section 56(2)(vii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (IT Act) so long as shares are allotted to him on a proportionate basis, even if such shares are allotted at lower than the fair market value (FMV) under Section 56(2)(vii) (Ruling).
The Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) in a recent case of M/s Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd. v The Assistant commissioner of Income Tax (ITAT order dated 29 November 2018) has allowed the claim for capital loss on account of reduction in share capital of the company (Ruling). The Tribunal held that reduction of share capital results into extinguishment of rights which is provided for in the inclusive definition of “transfer” under section 2(47) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (IT Act).
The state of Bihar, after Odisha, now becomes the state to have imposed a complete ban on the use of plastic. The Bihar State Government, in exercise of the powers delegated under Notification No- S.O. 152(E) dated 10 February 1988 issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (Act) and under Section 23 of the Act, vide Notification No.
India has witnessed an unprecedented growth in the domain of investment funds, at a global level. The Indian fund legal and regulatory regime has exhibited dynamic promptitude in accommodating a wide variety of investors and fund managers. Owing to such conducive investment conditions, there has been an increase in fund raising activity in India over the period of time. While most of the investment funds raising capital from offshore investors have typically been established in offshore financial hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Cayman Islands etc.
On 16 November 2018, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), by way of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (Amended Regulations) has amended and replaced Regulation 31A of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 relating to the reclassification of existing promoters of listed companies as public shareholders. The new framework has been introduced based on the recommendations of the Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), through a notification dated 30 November 2018, has introduced the SEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018 (Settlement Regulations). The Settlement Regulations, effective from 1 January 2019, will replace the SEBI (Settlement of Administrative and Civil Proceedings) Regulations, 2014 (2014 Regulations). The Settlement Regulations have set out the terms and procedure for settlement of any proceedings initiated and pending before the SEBI or any other forum, for the violation of specified securities laws.
Leasing of aircrafts is a prevalent market practice in the aviation industry, and all existing airline operators in India have currently leased a significant number of aircrafts in their fleet. In fact, a sizeable debt in the books of these operators is in connection with such leasehold arrangements.
