India is fighting the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses, charitable institutions, public-spirited individuals as well as friendly nations are all doing their bit to mitigate the effects of this contagion.
In view of the ‘second wave’ of the COVID-19 pandemic severely spreading across the country, the government of India has issued two notifications (notification numbers 38/2021 and 39/2021 dated 27 April 2021) (Notifications) to extend certain timelines with respect to various tax compliances which are expiring/due on 30 April 2021 to 30 June 2021:
The President of India has promulgated an Ordinance (defined hereinafter) abolishing the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) which was entrusted with certain matters falling under various Intellectual Property Rights laws (IPR laws).
Following the footsteps of its sister states – Nagaland and Sikkim – Meghalaya has become the third state to regulate gaming and gambling under a license-based regime. This step has been taken by the Government of Meghalaya at a time when the gaming industry is facing heat on account of legislative prohibition or court action across India. The Honourable Governor of Meghalaya has promulgated the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Ordinance 2021 (Meghalaya Ordinance #1 of 2021) (Ordinance) on 13 February 2021.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular on 12 February 2021 (Circular) to impose restrictions on investments in non-banking finance companies (NBFC) by investors from Financial Action Task Force (FATF) non-compliant jurisdictions. The restrictions are applicable with immediate effect from 12 February 2021 onwards.
The Indian government has come up with a new set of rules and regulations to regulate social media platforms, messaging services, OTT platforms and news portals.
Until now content on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar and others were largely unregulated, allowing them to cater to varied sensibilities. However, content on OTT platforms has also courted controversy time and again.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India (Supreme Court), comprising Justices R.F. Nariman, Navin Sinha, and K.M. Joseph, vide a judgment dated 11 February 2021 in the case of Chintels India Limited v Bhayana Builders Private Limited held that an appeal under Section 37(1)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (1996 Act) is maintainable against an order refusing to condone delay in filing a setting aside application under Section 34 of the 1996 Act.
