Corporate Law

Background and Facts A court executing a decree has wide powers over the judgment debtor and much narrower ones over everybody else. The Supreme Court has held that a forensic audit directed in aid of execution must stay confined to the transactions that connect the banks to the judgment debtors, and cannot become a general inquiry into the affairs of the banks themselves. The order was reported on September 29, 2026 and was made by a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justic

Background and Facts A single suit can engage three different sets of rights, and the remedy for each runs on a different trigger. The Delhi High Court has directed the removal of deepfake endorsements and other content misusing an educator's identity, and has ordered the intermediaries to disclose who uploaded it. The suit is Dr Vikas Divyakirti v. Meta Platforms Inc and others, before Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, reported on September 29, 2026. Three kinds of content were

A patented medicine priced beyond the reach of the patients who need it is the situation the Patents Act, 1970 addresses through three mechanisms, only one of which is an application to the Controller. This guide sets out how to apply for a compulsory licence under the Act, in the order the steps arise, and where the two executive routes sit beside it. The exercise is evidential before it is legal: the provisions are short, and what decides an application is the material asse

Background and Facts The Securities and Exchange Board of India has settled proceedings against four listed Adani group companies arising from alleged non-compliance with the minimum public shareholding requirement. The settlement was reported on September 28, 2026. The four companies are Adani Enterprises Limited, Adani Power Limited, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited and Adani Energy Solutions Limited, formerly Adani Transmission Limited. Each of the four paid a

Background and Facts Government use of a patent is usually discussed as though it meant use inside a government department. The Kerala High Court has read it wider. In a judgment reported on September 28, 2026, the Court held that Section 100 of the Patents Act, 1970 allows the Central Government to authorise the manufacture of a patented medicine and its sale to a patient who needs it, provided the sale is on a non-commercial basis. The judgment was delivered by Justice Hari

A liquidation auction looks like a discount and is sometimes a liability. The asset is sold on an as is where is basis, which puts the burden of enquiry on the bidder, and statutory dues that sit on the property as a charge are not swept away by the sale. A buyer who has not quantified them before bidding has not valued the asset. This guide sets out the enquiry to make, in the order to make it. The exercise is not long. It is usually a week of searches and two letters, again

Background and Facts A resolution professional holds office at the pleasure of the committee of creditors, within the limits the statute sets. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has upheld an order allowing a committee of creditors to replace a resolution professional, holding that the decision to seek replacement falls within the committee's commercial wisdom provided the statutory route is followed. The judgment in S. Viswanathan v. Canara Bank [Company Appeal (AT)

Background and Facts A buyer at a liquidation auction takes the asset with the statutory charges that sit on it. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has held that a municipal first charge for unpaid property tax is not extinguished by the sale of the property in liquidation, and that the auction purchaser is liable for the arrears. The order in Indojewel Jewellery Private Limited v. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was reported on September 26, 2026. The c

An application for the release of seized assets is a short document that is usually lost on one point: the explanation of where the asset came from. The statute gives a narrow window to apply, imposes a single substantive condition, and sets a period within which the asset is to be released. Whether that period obliges the department to hand the asset back is contested. The Allahabad High Court has held the provision directory, and the Gujarat High Court has referred the ques

Background and Facts An assessee whose cash is taken in a search has thirty days to ask for it back and the statute says the seized assets shall be released within one hundred and twenty days. What happens when the Assessing Officer simply does not decide within that period has now been referred for authoritative answer. A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court has referred to a larger bench the question whether assets seized under the Income-tax Act must be released once t

Background and Facts A scheme of amalgamation that folds ten subsidiaries into their listed parent has been sanctioned at the second motion stage, and one of the transferor companies came into the group through insolvency only last year. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has sanctioned the composite scheme merging ten group companies into Adani Power Limited. The order, made in the petition concerning Vidarbha Industries Power Limited, was reported on Sept

Two provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 offer interim relief in almost identical terms. Section 9 is addressed to a court and Section 17 to the arbitral tribunal, and the choice between them is governed by timing, by the identity of the person you need bound, and by what you intend to do with the order afterwards. Getting it wrong is expensive: the Supreme Court held in Union of India v. Hariom Projects Private Limited, 2026 INSC 1044, that a pending appe

Background and Facts An occupant of a corporate debtor's premises cannot convert a liquidation dispute into a tenancy dispute by asserting a lease. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has upheld an order requiring occupants to vacate two properties owned by a company in liquidation, holding that the liquidator may recover possession through the National Company Law Tribunal rather than through rent control proceedings. The order in Duke Fashions (India) Limited v. Pra

Background and Facts A Section 37 appeal is an exercise of appellate jurisdiction by a court, and an arbitral tribunal cannot be asked to perform it. The Supreme Court has set aside a direction of the Bombay High Court remitting a pending appeal against the refusal of interim relief to a newly constituted tribunal, to be treated as an application for interim measures. The judgment in Union of India v. Hariom Projects Private Limited, 2026 INSC 1044 [arising out of Special Lea

Section 270AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 offers a trade that is often worth taking: pay the tax and interest on an assessment, give up the right to appeal against it, and the Assessing Officer grants immunity from the penalty under Section 270A and from prosecution under Section 276C or Section 276CC. The arithmetic usually favours the assessee, because a penalty at fifty per cent of the tax on the under-reported income is a large sum to gamble on an appeal. The difficulty i