Regulating Related Party Transactions During the COVID-19 Crisis

Related party transactions ("RPTs") are frequently used as a tool for siphoning off value from a company, but they can also be an efficient instrument for assisting firms. The trade-off between stopping value-decreasing RPTs and promoting value-increasing RPTs requires lawmakers to seek an optimal balance, relying on several contingent factors. This paper highlights the strong interdependency between RPTs regulation and economic changes. After the 2008 crisis, policymakers have enhanced minority shareholders' control over RPTs, considering their involvement as the most effective safeguard against tunnelling. During the COVID-19 crisis, governments have introduced exemptions to the rules on RPTs, even if they might weaken minority shareholders' protection. The reason is that firms face dramatic liquidity shortfalls due to the pandemic, and RPTs can be a vehicle for providing finance to distressed companies, avoiding a wave of bankruptcies that would be dangerous for the economy. Thus, RPTs regulation has been tweaked for adapting to the new economic environment, and these legal changes, in turn, could affect the economic recovery.

Global Food Trade in a Rule Based System

A rule-based regime of international trade is built upon norms of equality and non-discrimination. It helps maintain equity in international trade by the observance of principles such as that of Most Favoured Nation and National Treatment. A closer inspection of the sector wise international trade practices of nations suggests that there are deviations from the rule-based mechanism of World Trade Organisation. This detrimentally impacts the balance of trade. This research article analyses the application of the rule-based regime of the World Trade Organisation with special reference to instances of inequalities in regulations imposed on trade in food products in the context of India and other developing countries. The paper concludes with an analysis of the plausible reasons for the rejection of exports from developing countries and suggests the need for the rectification of such inequalities.

Maratha Reservation in Maharashtra: A Challenge to the Principles of Equality

The Maharashtra Government has passed a Special Educational and Backward class Act, 2018 to provide additional reservation for Marathas. Article 15(4) and 16(4) authorizes the State to provide reservation for backward classes. However, the same has to be exercised in a very cautious manner. The judicial approach towards reservation has resulted in the evolution of numerous requirements that are mandated to be fulfilled, while providing reservation. This includes, inter alia, a ceiling limit of 50%, inadequacy of representation and quantifiable data. Maratha reservation took the total reservation count in the state to 68%, which is way ahead of the ceiling limit. The step was considered to be more towards appeasing politically influential Marathas than to do justice to them. Upon being challenged in Bombay High Court, the court upheld the reservation and gave a justification for the existence of extraordinary circumstances in favour of reservation for Marathas. This paper aims to constitutionally analyze the said Act, to understand whether the Marathas fulfil all the abovementioned yardsticks of ‘backwardness’. The paper also aims to determine whether creating a separate class for Marathas is justifiable or not.

Right Against Exploitation under Article 24 of the Indian Constitution

Article 24 of the Constitution prohibits the employment of children in hazardous environments. The provision is worded in a manner that allows horizontal application of the right guaranteed thereby. However, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s method of applying this horizontal right is obscure. On one hand, the Court in People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India indulged in a direct horizontal application of the right conferred under the Article, while on the other hand, the Court in the case of M. C. Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu, undertook a combined indirect horizontal and vertical application of the Article. This paper attempts to identify the exact manner of applicability of the right under Article 24, by tracing its development, with specific reference to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the same. Further, this paper explores the possibility of reading the right against exploitation in a more inclusive manner, as has been done for right to life under Article 21. The author has been inspired by the International community’s perception of child labour, specifically, the Constitution of Ireland and the Bill of Rights of South Africa, in putting forward arguments to augment the expansion of the scope of Article 24.

Analysis of the Implementation of the NRC with Respect to Statelessness in Assam

On 31st August 2019, the final version of the National Register of Citizens was published. It was meant to be a seamless solution to the so-called ‘immigration problem’ that the people of Assam have been facing for the last few decades. The demand for such a Register, therefore, dates back to the Assam Agitation. An undoubtedly sizable task, it has now drawn criticism on several grounds. The most common criticism being that it has successfully rendered 1.9 million people in Assam stateless. A stateless person is one who belongs to no particular ‘nation’ or ‘state’. This is an issue that requires urgent attention as it has resulted in the violation of human rights and deprivation of basic resources. This research paper attempts to examine whether the Register has successfully addressed the aforementioned problem. In order to do so, the researcher has examined the procedural aspects of drafting the Register and its subsequent implementation. Further, the paper explores the after effects of the implementation of such a Register, while attempting to arrive at solutions to resolve the various issues created via such an implementation.

Analyzing the Role of the Goods and Service Tax Network in Helping the State Preserve a Just Social Order

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) manages the Common GST Electronic Portal. The payment of money, inclusive of the Goods and Services Taxes (GSTs), is made to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in three different ways – It can first be deposited as revenue in compliance with law; it can also be deposited after collection, following notices of demand; and finally it can be deposited after recovery from defaulters, into the respective Consolidated Funds, which are mutually independent parts of central and state treasuries. GST revenues accounted for in the Consolidated Funds would have to be correct, complete and uncontested. The GSTN thereafter manages the digital facilitation of the registration, furnishing returns, computation and settlement of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), electronic way bill and other functions if prescribed in accordance with law. This paper examines if the functioning of the GSTN within the framework of the Constitution, would enable the State to apply the Directive Principles of State Policy, which guide governance in India, to secure and preserve a just social order.

Analyzing the Social License to Operate in International Investment Law

A small segment of Investor-State Arbitration flows from the consequences of resistance by the local population (particularly, indigenous people) against the particular investment, and the concerned State cancelling permits granted earlier, precluding all future activities of the investor. This paper seeks to argue that when faced with an investment treaty dispute of this nature, arbitrators should (and indeed may be required to) reflect on the Social License to Operate (SLO) as a part of the applicable law. It aims at creating a framework within which the Social License to Operate should be conceptualized by investment tribunals in the future. The article first examines the nature of the social license to operate and then goes on to highlight its existence in relevant bodies of international law. Thereafter, the article seeks to analyze its use in past investment tribunals, such as the award laid down in Bear Creek Mining v. Peru, and uses this analysis as a springboard to construct a way forward for future applications of the concept.