Sansa Law Desk

The Supreme Court has ruled that land earmarked for development under a duly approved and notified statutory Master Plan cannot later be classified as a 'deemed forest' merely because trees have grown on it over time. The judgment in Naveen Solanki v. Rail Land Development Authority, 2026 INSC 270, delivered on March 20, 2026 by a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, resolves a recurring tension between environmental protection and urban development pl

The Supreme Court has set aside a High Court direction that effectively ordered the grant of an extraordinary pension, holding that courts cannot substitute their own decision in place of a discretion that the law vests in the Governor. The judgment in State of Uttarakhand v. Sarita Singh, delivered on April 9, 2026 by a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, reaffirms the settled principle that when a statute grants discretionary power to a constitutional

The Supreme Court has reinforced the doctrine of constructive res judicata by holding that a plaintiff who files a suit for bare injunction while being aware of a title dispute, and deliberately omits to seek a declaration of ownership, is barred from filing a subsequent suit for that omitted relief. The judgment in Channappa (D) Thr. LRs. v. Parvatewwa (D) Thr. LRs., 2026 INSC 343, delivered on April 10, 2026, serves as a critical reminder that all reliefs arising from a sin

The Supreme Court has ruled that independent cooperative societies, including district milk unions, do not qualify as 'State' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution and that their internal election processes are not amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226. The judgment in Ram Chandra Choudhary v. Roop Nagar Dugdh Utpadak Sahakari Samiti Limited, 2026 INSC 347, delivered on April 10, 2026 by a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, settles a

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has released a consultation paper proposing the reintroduction of open market share buybacks through stock exchanges. The paper, published on April 2, 2026, invites public comments until April 23, 2026. This move follows the discontinuation of the open market buyback route from April 1, 2025, which was prompted by concerns over unequal shareholder participation and tax-induced inequity. With the taxation framework for buybacks having

In a ruling that will reshape how courts approach sentencing in multi-count criminal cases, the Supreme Court has held that when substantive prison sentences for multiple offences are directed to run concurrently, the fines imposed for those offences must also run concurrently. The judgment in Hem Raj v. State of Himachal Pradesh, 2026 INSC 332, delivered on April 8, 2026 by a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria, addresses a gap in sentencing practice tha

The Reserve Bank of India has notified the Foreign Exchange Management (Borrowing and Lending) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2026, which consolidate and restructure the regulatory framework governing External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) in India. The amendment, which came into effect in February 2026, brings together provisions that were previously scattered across the FEM (Borrowing and Lending) Regulations, 2018, RBI Master Directions on ECBs, and various frequently asked

The Companies (Accounts) Second Amendment Rules, 2025, effective from July 14, 2025, have introduced detailed mandatory disclosures relating to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) in the Board's Report of every company. The amendment goes beyond the earlier requirement to merely state the number of complaints received and disposed of. Companies must now disclose complaint statistics with greater granularity,

From April 1, 2026, obtaining Input Service Distributor (ISD) registration under the GST framework has become mandatory for businesses that receive common input services at a centralised location and distribute the related input tax credit (ITC) to their branches or units registered in different states. The change, introduced through the Finance Act 2024 amendments to Section 20 of the CGST Act and notified for effect from April 2026, replaces the earlier optional ISD mechani

The Union Budget 2026 has proposed extending the validity of customs advance rulings from the current three-year period to five years. The change, proposed through an amendment to the Customs Act, 1962, is aimed at bringing greater predictability to long-term business planning in international trade. Advance rulings allow importers and exporters to obtain binding determinations on classification, valuation, and duty applicability of goods before the actual import or export ta

A fundamental question in Indian real estate law remains unresolved: can disputes between homebuyers and developers be referred to arbitration, or does the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) create an exclusive jurisdiction that bars arbitration? High Courts across India have taken conflicting positions on this issue. The Bombay High Court has held that disputes under Sections 12 and 18 of RERA are non-arbitrable, while the Gauhati High Court has held t

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025, effective from March 31, 2026, which replace the annual DIR-3 KYC filing requirement for directors with a triennial filing cycle. Under the amended framework, every individual holding a Director Identification Number (DIN) as on March 31 of a financial year is now required to file the prescribed KYC form once every three consecutive financial years,

On March 10, 2026, the Government of India announced a significant amendment to Press Note 3 of 2020, the regulation that imposed mandatory government approval for foreign direct investment from countries sharing a land border with India. The 2026 amendment introduces a threshold-based relaxation: where the beneficial ownership from land-bordering countries is below 10 percent and the ownership is passive and non-controlling, the investment may proceed under the automatic rou

The Reserve Bank of India has notified the Foreign Exchange Management (Guarantees) Regulations, 2026, replacing the Foreign Exchange Management (Guarantees) Regulations, 2000. The new framework comprehensively overhauls the regulatory regime governing cross-border guarantees involving persons resident in India. Issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, the 2026 regulations introduce a principle-based, eligibility-driven framework that shifts away from the earli

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India has issued a circular dated April 1, 2026, notifying the International Valuation Standards (IVS) as the applicable standards for all valuations conducted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The IVS, issued and updated by the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC), will apply with immediate effect to valuations of assets, businesses, and liabilities undertaken during corporate insolvency resolution processes, l