Introduction The Hon’ble Finance Minister, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, had presented the Union Budget for the financial year 2020-21 on February 1, 2020, and introduced the Finance Bill, 2020 (“Bill”) in the Lok Sabha. The Bill comprised of financial proposals, including taxation related proposals, to amend the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“IT Act”) for financial year 2020-21. The final Bill, incorporating certain amendments, was passed by the parliament on March 26 and received the…

Background In India, the concept of sovereign immunity or crown immunity as available to foreign states/rulers, is governed by Section 86 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”). The legal doctrine essentially states that the sovereign or a foreign state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from a civil suit or criminal prosecution. The doctrine is based on the legal maxim rex non potest peccare which means the king can do no wrong and is based on a common law governed…

With a lot of disruption and backlog due to coronavirus, all industries, along with the real estate sector, have taken a massive hit. The year 2019 was not such a progressive year and everyone was counting on 2020 to recover and improve from last year’s lows. However, the real estate sector is in a deep standstill on the back of the global economic crisis, coupled with the COVID-19 situation. This scenario calls for anyone to…

As you are aware, the Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the Union Budget 2020-2021 on February 1, 2020 and consequently, introduced the Finance Bill, 2020 (“Bill”) in the Lok Sabha. The Bill comprised the financial proposals, including taxation related proposals, to amend the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“Income-tax Act”) for the financial year 2021. Subsequently, the Finance Minister and her team had several discussions with various stakeholders, who we understand made many…

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…

Background  The Central Government recently notified Sections 230(11) and 230(12) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”), which deal with takeover offers in unlisted companies. Section 230 of the Act provides for arrangements between a company and its creditors or members or any class of them, specifying the procedure to be followed to make such a compromise or arrangement. The newly-notified Section 230(11) states that in the case of unlisted companies any compromise or arrangement may…