Photo of Ashlesha Mittal

Associate in the General Corporate Practice at the Delhi office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Ashlesha has experience in advising clients on various corporate and commercial matters including company laws, securities laws and foreign exchange laws. She also has experience in advising clients on equity and debt capital markets, having worked in the Capital Markets practice at the firm’s Delhi office. She can be reached at ashlesha.mittal@cyrilshroff.com.

Automatic Vacation of Stay Orders in Six Months - A Positive Affirmation

Cases in India can take years to be disposed of. Stay of proceedings on account of interim orders has been greatly responsible for causing inordinate delay in disposal of cases. These orders typically stay effective unless expressly vacated, or until a final order is passed, which then subsumes the interim order. Interim orders that stay proceedings before a subordinate court are often misused by litigants as a dilatory tactic to maintain status quo in their favor. The subordinate courts account for 87% of India’s pending cases.[1] A greater challenge faced by the judiciary and litigants alike is the delay in determination of cases at the appellate level, which in turn leads to endless wait for determination of matters even at the trial stage. The Law Ministry estimates that on an average, a trial is delayed by about 6.5 years due to stay of proceedings by higher courts.[2]
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Striking off Name of a Company - The Jurisdictional Issue

Jurisdiction is not given for the sake of the judge, but for that of the litigant

– Blaise Pascal

Recently the Delhi High Court in Money Market Services (India) Private Ltd. v. Union of India held that an order passed by Registrar of Companies (ROC) striking off the name of a Company can be challenged by way of writ petition only before the High Court, which has territorial jurisdiction over the said ROC.[1]
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GOODBYE CHINA; HELLO INDIA

The noise around large companies shifting their manufacturing bases out of China has gotten shriller with the advent of Covid-19 related disruption. The theme is not new. Since the trade war between the United States and China, much has been written about companies shifting their operations from China to other South East Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan. India is hopeful of getting it right this time around and is competing with other South East Asian countries in rolling out the red carpet to companies exiting China. In anticipation of any announcements that may be made by the Government in this regard, this article examines some of the key factors that are relevant for companies contemplating a shift to India.
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COVID-19 - Temporary Relaxations for Corporate Compliances

The global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is an unprecedented event that has led to lockdowns and unexpected restrictions on the public as well as the corporate sector across the world. In order to control its spread, the Government of India (GoI) has inter alia ordered all establishments, except organisations providing essential goods and services, to temporarily close their physical offices. Employees are working remotely, but due to difficulties faced in coordination and lack of office facilities, companies are likely to face difficulties in undertaking timely compliances of various applicable laws. Keeping in mind the aforesaid, the GoI has temporarily relaxed a number of compliance requirements for the corporate sector. We have analysed below some of the major relaxations from securities and companies law perspective.
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