Major obligations for companies under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provisions, as introduced by the new Companies Act, 2013, have been highlighted by the author in the article carried in the August issue of Corporate Amicus. The author says that though the principle of CSR is laudable and pioneering, there are some practical difficulties and legal lacunae in implementing the same.
An amnesty scheme called the Company Law Settlement Scheme 2014 has been introduced to condone delay in filing specified returns. Notifications and Circulars portion of this issue of Amicus also provides reports on various clarifications issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) including that of appointment of an individual as both Chairman and Managing Director / CEO; implementation of resolutions passed under the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956; and appointment of auditors by the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) in deemed Government companies. SEBI has clarified its guidelines on disclosures, reporting and clarifications under AIF Regulations, while Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised pricing guidelines on issue/transfer of shares or convertible debentures and readers may go through this issue to know the highlights of the same.
Under Ratio decidendi, this issue covers Bombay High Court decision holding that disputes alleging criminal actions of ‘fraud’ and ‘misrepresentation’ are capable of resolution through arbitration besides the order passed by the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) which has overruled the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) finding in respect of relevant product market even while upholding the penalty imposed on National Stock Exchange on the ground of abuse of dominance.
August, 2014/ Issue-37