Top Law Firm in India

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan is organising a conference call on“Biodiversity Act - Prior approval for past acts” on 15.11.2018 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has on 10-9-2018 brought out an office memorandum (OM) whereby the National Biodiversity Authority has been directed to hear all such cases where prior approvals under the Bio-Diversity Act was required, but the person/entity has not obtained the same. The Authority has been directed to pass appropriate orders with respect to acts that may have occurred in past. This provides an opportunity to all the entities/persons to get absolved of the violations that might have been committed in obtaining the biological resources occurring in India due to non-compliances of the provision under the BDA. In addition, this will also prevent objections from being raised by NBA for future approvals, which may be a consequence of any past activity under the BDA. It may however be noted that for implementing these directions, the Ministry has provided a specified time period of 100 days from the date of issuance of the OM. Mr. R Parthasarathy, Principal Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan will enlighten entities or persons on provisions of Sections 3, 4 and 6 of the BDA and various other compliances and exemptions.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (L&S) is a full service law firm practising in areas of Tax, International Trade, Intellectual Property Rights and Corporate laws. The firm is acclaimed for its legal acumen and skill of its highly knowledgeable team of experts, attorneys and consultants. A well-knit team of professionals from across different practices work in tandem to ensure that every client is provided the best and most comprehensive service.

With a view to stimulate the development of startups in India and to provide them with a competitive platform, the government of India has unveiled a three pronged plan which covers Simplification and Handholding; Funding Support Incentives; and having an Industry – Academia Partnership and Incubation. Startups accordingly will be provided with Tax exemptions for 3 years and Tax exemption on capital gains. Some other initiatives proposed include, Compliance regime based on self-certification; Legal support & fast tracking of Patent Examination; Faster exit schemes; Funding support and incentives; and Credit guarantee scheme. Further, ‘Startup’ has also been defined in this regard to mean Private Limited Company (Under the Companies Act, 2013) or Registered Partnership Firm (Under the Partnership Act, 1932) or Limited Liability Partnership (Under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008).

6th March

An appeal to NCLAT was preferred by the Appellant from an Order of the NCLT. However, such appeal was filed with a delay of 9 days after expiry of the period of limitation and the grace period provided under Section 421(3) of the Act. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed by the NCLAT. Assailing this order of the NCLAT, the Appellant preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court. The Appellant placed reliance on Section 433 of the Act that the provisions of Limitation Act apply to the proceedings or appeals, and therefore Section 5 of the Limitation Act which provides for condonation of delay for sufficient cause in case of appeals would be applicable to condone the delay beyond the period provided under Section 421(3) of the Act. Section 421(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 provides the limitation period in respect of filing of an appeal from Orders of the National Company Law Tribunal. An appeal is required to be filed within a period of 45 days from the date on which a copy of the said order of the Tribunal is made available to the person aggrieved. Section 421 also provides a further grace period of 45 days, subject to the satisfaction of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing an appeal within the initial 45 day-period. Further, Section 433 of the Act states that provisions of the Limitation Act, 1963, shall, as far as may be, apply to proceedings or appeals before the NCLT or NCLAT, as the case may be. The Supreme Court in Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association. v. Kalyan Chowdhury has now held that a cursory reading of Section 421(3) and its proviso makes it clear that the Act provides a period of limitation different from that provided in the Limitation Act.

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2018 for introduction before the Indian Parliament. The Bill is meant to encourage institutional arbitration and provide for a robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in India. This Bill comes in furtherance of the J. Srikrishna High Level Committee Report (“HLC”) and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 ("2015 Amendment").

4th April

Union Cabinet has approve the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 providing for measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts and empowers the Government to confiscate the properties of such offenders in India.

The term “Fugitive Economic Offender” has been defined as an individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India, who: (i) leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution; or (ii) refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.

The term “Proceeds of crime” refers to any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person from any criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence or the value of such property or where such property is outside the country, then the property equivalent in value held within the country.

The term “Scheduled offence” as used in the aforesaid definition of “proceeds of crime” refers to offences mentioned in the Schedule, if the total value involved in such offences is one hundred crore rupees or more.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan is organising a conference call on “Taxation of Free Services and it’s implication on Banks, Financial Institutions & Services Sectors under GST ” to explain the impact of GST regime on Banks, Financial institutions and Service sectors.

The conference call, by Mr. L Badri Narayanan, Partner, L&S will discuss issues including:

Differentiation for marquee customers and premium service offerings

Implication of bundling of service in-light of composite and mixed supply

Way forward in GST

5th April National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has held that ‘Moratorium’ under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code will not only be applicable to the property of the ‘Corporate Debtor’ but also on its ‘Personal Guarantor’. Brief Facts: Mr. V. Ramakrishnan (“1st Respondent”), Director of M/s Veesons Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. (“2nd Respondent/Corporate Debtor”) furnished a personal guarantee of his assets to State Bank of India (“Appellant/Financial Creditor”). Thus, as per definition of “Personal Guarantor” under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (“Code”), Mr. V. Ramakrishnan was the Personal Guarantor for the Corporate Debtor.

4th April Union Cabinet has approve the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 providing for measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts and empowers the Government to confiscate the properties of such offenders in India. The term “Fugitive Economic Offender” has been defined as an individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India, who: (i) leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution; or (ii) refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. The term “Proceeds of crime” refers to any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person from any criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence or the value of such property or where such property is outside the country, then the property equivalent in value held within the country.

In order to provide comprehensive and swift trade defence mechanism the Indian government has created an integrated single umbrella national authority to be called the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 have been amended in this regards on 7th of May, 2018. The Press Release issued for the purpose notes that trade defence mechanism in India lacks optimality and takes more than a year to complete proceedings in cases pertaining to unfair trade practices. DGTR will bring Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties, Directorate General of Safeguards, and Safeguards (QR) functions of DGFT into its fold by merging them into one single national entity ....

8th March Ministry of Finance has issued notification on 7th of March, 2018 to amend provisions relating to E-way Bill, in the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (CGST Rules). According to the amendments which are yet to come into effect, transporter, on an authorization received from the registered person, can furnish information in Part A of Form GST EWB-01, electronically, on the common portal.

7th May Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council met for the 27th time on 4th of May, 2018 and decided on various issues including simplifying the GST monthly return filing, and converting the GSTN into a fully government owned company. It also discussed at length concession in the GST rate in case the transactions involve digital payments, and imposition of Sugar Cess. In-principle approval of new return design All taxpayers, except a few, will be required to file 1 monthly return with a simple design and easy IT interface. B2B dealers will have to fill invoice-wise details of outward supply. There will be no automatic reversal of ITC on non-payment of tax by seller, and recovery of tax or reversal of ITC will be through online process of issuing notice and order. It may however be noted that the new system will be implemented in 6 months and till then filing of GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 will continue.

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2018 for introduction before the Indian Parliament. The Bill is meant to encourage institutional arbitration and provide for a robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in India. This Bill comes in furtherance of the J. Srikrishna High Level Committee Report (“HLC”) and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 ("2015 Amendment"). The salient features of the aforesaid Bill, inter alia, are.....

The Delhi High Court has allowed the rectification application holding that artistic work in label NIHAL UTTAM is not an original work under Section 13 of the Copyright Act. It held that Respondent’s artistic work in the said label was substantial reproduction and colourable imitation of Appellant’s NIHAR COCONUT OIL.

The court in its order dated 20-4-2018 noted that the colour scheme between the two labels was same.....

2nd May The Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that power of declaration of ‘protected system’ under Section 70 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 has to be read along with the provisions contained in Sections 2(k) and 17(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957 defining government work and vesting copyright in such work in the government.

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2018 for introduction before the Indian Parliament.

The Bill is meant to encourage institutional arbitration and provide for a robust Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in India. This Bill comes in furtherance of the J. Srikrishna High Level Committee Report (“HLC”) and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 ("2015 Amendment"). The salient features of the aforesaid Bill, inter alia, are,