Our earlier Ergo COVID 19 - Conducting Board Meetings Virtually, provided an overview on how Indian companies can conduct board meetings through Audio Visual Means (AV Means) during this time, to ensure statutory compliance.
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).
COVID-19 Preparedness
The global outbreak of COVID-19 has led everyone, from promoters to investment bankers to transactional lawyers to fund managers, to change the way in which business is done. One of the biggest challenges for any live transaction or commercial negotiation will be signing of documents. While remote execution is being adopted in the Indian market, parties are cautious about this approach and prefer physical signing of the documents.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued a notification dated 13 March 2020 (Notification) which temporarily liberalises conditions stipulated under the ‘Terms and Conditions – Other Service Provider (OSP) Category’ (OSP Guidelines) with respect to ‘Work From Home’ (WFH) for a period up to 30 April 2020 (Exemption Period).
With COVID-19 being declared a pandemic, various companies have found themselves facing challenges in complying with the Companies Act compliances due to disruptions in their operations. The rampant spread of the virus in the world and more specifically in India now, has called for relaxations in corporate compliance requirements and introduction of strategic policy decisions to limit the spread of the virus. In light of the same, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) vide its circular no.
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic, thereby calling for more urgent and aggressive action to stifle its spreading. Employers are taking a wide range of actions to deal with this extraordinary situation. However, even now, it is of the utmost importance that employers be mindful of protecting the privacy of data of their employees and business contacts in order to mitigate risk and ensure the smooth continuity of business in such a challenging time.
The rapid and unprecedented spread of the novel coronavirus (Coronavirus) which started in December last year and soon became every economy’s waking nightmare has dealt a severe blow to businesses worldwide and posed a serious challenge to asset managers across the globe. Funds and their managers are battling various obstacles including accelerating fund outflows, substantial share price falls and operational challenges to their client-facing work as both international and domestic travel becomes increasingly difficult.
The rapid and unprecedented spread of the novel coronavirus (Coronavirus) which started in December last year and soon became every economy’s waking nightmare has dealt a severe blow to businesses worldwide and posed a serious challenge to asset managers across the globe. Funds and their managers are battling various obstacles including accelerating fund outflows, substantial share price falls and operational challenges to their client-facing work as both international and domestic travel becomes increasingly difficult.
A global pandemic now, COVID-19 was not something the world seemed to have been ready for when it was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. A member of the larger family of coronavirus (including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)) which causes illness in both humans and animals, COVID-19 impacts the respiratory system of its target.
