On 7 December 2018, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued circular No SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2018/0000000149 (Circular) to modify Circular No. CIR/CFD/CMD/13/2015 dated 30 November 2015 (Format for Disclosure of Holding of Specified Securities and Shareholding Pattern) issued under Regulation 31 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015.
Several committees stretching back to 2002 had observed that the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 contained penalties which were rather nominal and easily compoundable. Hence, the Companies Act, 2013 (Act) deliberately made serious offences such as fraud etc., non-compoundable. Unfortunately, in the wake of Satyam and the season of scams, lawmakers fell into the trap of ‘preventing’ scams and overcorrected.
On 2 November 2018, the Delhi High Court (High Court), in Christian Louboutin SAS v Nakul Bajaj and Others (Civil Suit No. 344/2018) has laid down certain guiding principles in respect of liability of e-commerce platforms as intermediaries and the ambit of ‘service’ as has been used in the definition of ‘intermediaries’ under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued a circular ref. IRDAI/NL/CIR//MOTP/170/10/2018 dated 9 October 2018 (Revised Circular) providing certain clarifications regarding the implementation of Compulsory Personal Accident (CPA) insurance for owner drivers. The Revised Circular has been issued in light of complaints and communications received from various stakeholders regarding certain aspects of implementation of CPA insurance for owner drivers, the background to which is elucidated below.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) amended the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 (CIRP Regulations) for the fourth time in 2018 on 5 October 2018 through the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Fourth Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (Amendment Regulations).
In a long awaited move, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has notified the provisions of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017 (CA Amendment Act), relating to managerial remuneration, which are now in force with effect from 12 September 2018. By way of a notification, the amendments to Section 197 and Schedule V of the Companies Act, 2013 (CA 2013) have been brought into effect. More importantly, the requirement of seeking approval of the Central Government for the payment of managerial remuneration in excess of limits stipulated for public companies has now been removed.
On 6 September 2018, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India pronounced its verdict on the constitutional validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) in the case of Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. v Union of India (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 76 Of 2016) (Navtej Singh Case).
While answering a question on dematerialisation of shares of unlisted companies during the Question Hour session of the Lok Sabha on 29 December 2017, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had expressed its intention of making it mandatory for unlisted public companies to issue shares in dematerialised form only. The MCA also mentioned that it has carried out consultations with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), depositories and other stake holders, to determine the feasibility of this move in a phased manner.
Based on the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017, the Companies Act, 2013 was amended to introduce new filing requirements by “Significant Beneficial Owners”. There were filings to be made by the “Significant Beneficial Owners” under a form “BEN-1” and a subsequent filing by the relevant company in form “BEN-2”. The former was a paper filing and the latter is an electronic
On 27 August 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India (GOI) released the National Drone Policy, 2018 version 1 (Drone Policy), comprising of: (a) Civil aviation requirements (CARs) of civil remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS); (b) FAQs on operation of RPAS; and (c) Do’s and Don’ts for operation of RPAS. The Drone Policy legalises the use and operation of drones in India, effective from 1 December 2018.
