Ergo

Amidst the ongoing pandemic of Covid 19, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has rolled out the Companies Fresh Start Scheme 2020 (Company Scheme) and modifications to the LLP Settlement Scheme, 2020 (LLP Scheme). The Company Scheme and the LLP Scheme seek to provide a fresh start to the companies and limited liability partnerships (LLP) granting them opportunity to sanitize the existing defaults in filing of forms, statements, documents, undertakings, returns etc.

With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the world is facing unprecedented challenges. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic and called it a ‘global health and societal emergency’ requiring coordinated, swift and untrammelled efforts of States and their people to contain it.

With the increase in COVID 19 cases in India, the Indian Government announced a complete nationwide lockdown for 21 days starting from 00:00 hours of 25 March 2020. Knowing that this unprecedented lockdown will further disrupt the business continuity of all sectors, the Hon’ble Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman (FM) on the afternoon of 24 March 2020 announced a slew of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures giving companies a huge sigh of relief in these trying times.

As COVID-19 continues to induce turbulence in our lives, infrastructure and economies, India continues to show its resilience, strength and unity. However, despite best efforts, our daily lives, working patterns, regulatory and legal structures are constantly facing renewed challenges. However, competition rules continue to apply and thus far, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has not issued any relaxation in any spheres unlike some of its international counterparts.

COVID-19 has posed unprecedented challenges and in many cases business continuity plans are being put to test for the first time. The scenario is deteriorating in India with more than 560 positive cases being officially reported. The ‘lockdown’ has been extended to all districts in India till the 14th of April 2020. The restrictions on construction activities, decreased workforce and supply chain disruptions will have a cascading impact on contractual obligations relating to infrastructure projects.

The Hon’ble Finance Minister has announced a host of relaxations in the compliance timelines for small taxpayers and various other relief measures. The major announcements from the standpoint of Indirect Taxes included:

The World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. All spheres of life have been affected alike and the judicial system is no exception to this. There are various challenges that are being faced by Courts, lawyers and litigants alike which are unprecedented in nature. It would be useful to look at some of the issues that the system is grappling with and what is being done to deal with them in a manner that balances the litigants’ interests while taking precautions against the pandemic.

Amidst the outbreak of COVID 19, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had previously extended the compliance timelines prescribed under Regulations 7(3) ( Submission of compliance certificate signed by share transfer agent), 13(3) (Grievance Redressal Mechanism), 24A (Secretarial Audit), 27(2) (Corporate Governance Compliance Report), 31 (Shareholding pattern disclosure) and 33 (Financial Results) of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (SEBI LODR Regulations)

Earlier today, i.e., 23 March 2020, the Supreme Court of India (SC), in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3/2020, took suo motu cognisance of the difficulties faced by litigants due to the rapidly escalating corona virus outbreak (COVID-19).

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on 23 March 2020 has issued a clarification that any expenditure towards various activities related to COVID-19 shall be considered an eligible corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure (MCA Circular).