Photo of Anushka Shah

Associate in the Financial Regulatory Practice at the Mumbai office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. She can be reached at anushka.shah@cyrilshroff.com

Recent amendments to the insider trading regime

Since overhauling the insider trading regime with the introduction of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (“PIT Regulations”), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) has continually sought to fine tune and tweak the regulations through amendments in 2018 and 2019. On July 17, 2020, SEBI notified the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 (“PIT Amendment”), to introduce further changes to the PIT Regulations.
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Introduction

The growth and diversification of businesses have led to an increase in white collar crimes. The term ‘white collar crime’ was first defined by Edwin Hardin Sutherland as crimes committed by persons who hold high societal status and repute in their profession. As the complexity of such crimes has grown over the years and investigations have become refined, we have seen an increase in private professional services offering support to companies and their management in dealing with white collar crimes.

These support services extend from providing an in-depth analysis of the crime to the management, carrying out forensic investigations into the affairs of the company, including audit and forensic diligence reports and preparing the company for legal proceedings. The need for internal private investigations has also increased as a result of strengthening of laws on compliances and reporting of white collar crimes. The allegations may vary from offences under the Indian Penal Code (such as fraud, cheating, forgery, etc.) to offences under offences under special statutes (such as money laundering, insider trading, corruption, etc.).Continue Reading For or Against Forensic diligence when facing a White-Collar Investigation: Evidentiary Value

SC refuses unilateral appointment of single arbitrator

Arbitration is a method of alternate dispute resolution wherein a third party is appointed for adjudication of disputes between the concerned parties. In such a scenario, preserving the sanctity of the judicial process becomes imperative. As arbitration requires adjudication on rights of the parties involved, principles of natural justice play a critical role in avoiding any potential risk of miscarriage of justice. The first principle of natural justice is ‘nemo judex in causa sua’, which means ‘no man can be a judge in his own cause’. This principle intends to avoid any ‘reasonable apprehension of bias’ that may arise during any judicial process.
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Supreme Court denounces speculative litigation seeking to resist enforcement of foreign awards

Introduction

Over the years, Indian Courts have increasingly limited their interference with arbitral awards. This approach of non-interference is more so when it comes to enforcement of foreign awards under Section 48 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) as has been reaffirmed in a recent judgment of the Supreme Court in Vijay Karia (“Appellants”) and Ors. v. Prysmain Cavi E Sistemi SRL & Ors[1] (“Respondents”).

In this case, the Supreme Court had occasion to consider an appeal against the order of a single judge of the Bombay High Court, allowing enforcement of a London seated foreign award (“Foreign Award’). In doing so, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and came down heavily on the Appellants for engaging in speculative litigation and attempting to invoke the limited powers of the Supreme Court under Article 136[2] only to resist enforcement of the Foreign Award.
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Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

In times of  Covid-19 pandemic, which has halted not just commercial transactions but also lifestyles[1], the Indian Government took relevant  steps to avoid mass spread of the virus, read out the preamble of the Epidemic Diseases Act and got to work.

The colonial era act, all of 123 years old, has once again come to our rescue. The Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 (the “Act”) was put in place due to the mass spread of the bubonic plague outbreak in Mumbai (then Bombay)[2]. The plague, said to have spread through rats,[3] killed hundreds of people per week in Mumbai.

Albeit the British colonial Government was said to have cleverly used the Act to imprison freedom fighters, the Indian Government is using the Act as a weapon to fight the novel virus and rightly so. While the Central Government’s powers are limited under the Act, it is the unity of various states in the country that has brought the Act in the forefront. Among other states, Karnataka[4], Maharashtra[5], Delhi[6] and Kerala[7] have issued advisories on management and brought into place ‘Covid-19 Regulations, 2020’ (“Regulations”). Vide these Regulations, states have exercised their powers under the Act to force employees of private establishments/ industries/factories/shops etc. to stay at home in the present times, to treat them as ‘on duty’; to stop all construction work immediately; to shut night clubs and weekly bazaars etc.
Continue Reading Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 – Dusting an Old Cloak