Non Executive Directors

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New Remuneration Regime for Independent Directors - Will It help in attracting better talent on the boards of India Inc

Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (‘MCA’) has notified the amendments made to Sections 149(9) and 197(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘2013 Act’) by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020 (‘2020 Amendment’) -to enable companies faced with absence or inadequacy of profits to pay certain minimum guaranteed remuneration to Non-Executive Directors (‘NEDs’) and Independent Directors (‘IDs’), as may be prescribed. On the same day, the MCA also issued a Notification to amend Schedule V of the 2013 Act to prescribe the scale of remuneration which can be paid to NEDs and IDs, depending on the effective capital of the company.
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Vicarious Liability of Non-Executive Directors - A Case for Reform of Law

Context:

The vicarious liability provisions have been evolving ever since the evolution of law of torts. “Offence by companies” is a standard vicarious liability provision in most statutes, which is often used to fasten the liability on directors for the acts and omissions of the company. These vicarious liability provisions are borrowed from colonial-era laws and incorporated in our domestic legislations. As a rule, there is no concept of vicarious liability in criminal law. Such provisions imposing liability on directors for acts/ omissions of the company are present in most statutes.

The vicarious liability provisions have a standard language providing that the person-in-charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business of the company at the time of the commission of the offence, as well as other officers are liable for that offence. However, those provisions do not make a distinction between Managing Directors (“MDs”)/ Executive Directors (“EDs”) and Non-Executive Directors (“NEDs”)/ Independent Directors (“IDs”).
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