The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that no internet intermediary could come close to WhatsApp in terms of revenues as well as assets.
"All they have done in their entire report is privacy regulation," counsel appearing for WhatsApp told the appellate tribunal.
Both the NCLT and NCLAT are getting permanent heads after more than one-and-a-half years following the retirement of their respective incumbents.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has allowed state-owned Canara Bank and Indian Bank to pursue proceedings against former IL&FS directors, who are not part of the new board, to declare them as wilful defaulter. However, the appellate tribunal said those directors who are part of the new board of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and its various subsidiaries after October 1, 2018, would remain protected.
Appellate tribunal NCLAT on Thursday admitted the petitions filed by Meta Platforms and Whatsapp against an order passed by fair trade regulator CCI which imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore for abuse of market dominance.
'Each side could consider challenging the NCLAT's stay order before the Supreme Court.'
The NCLAT has set aside a petition filed by the state tax department claiming dues from Reliance Communications (RCom) observing that it was based on the assessment made after the initiation of insolvency resolution process against the debt-ridden firm. A two-member NCLAT bench upheld the earlier order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had rejected the state tax department's second claim of Rs 6.10 crore. Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against RCom was initiated on June 22, 2019. The state tax department had filed two claims.
Byju's Founder Byju Raveendran's plea against the Insolvency of Think & Learn before the NCLAT was adjourned on Monday as one of the members of the bench recused from the hearing. The matter will be placed before a bench headed by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan, who will assign a different bench to hear the matter. Raveendran had filed a petition challenging the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Think & Learn, which runs edtech company Byju's.
Besides the present CJI Chandrachud, former CJIs Ranjan Gogoi and SA Bobde and former judges Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer were part of the bench which had delivered the historic verdict on November 9, 2019.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Friday issued notices to Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) over the petitions filed by IDBI Bank and AXIS Finance against an NCLT order that approved the media company's merger with Culver Max Entertainment. However, a two-member NCLAT bench comprising chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member Arun Baroka declined to grant any stay over the merger process during the pendency of the hearing. The appellate tribunal (NCLAT) has directed to list both petitions on January 8 for hearing, directing Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd to file a reply.
The creditors of the grounded carrier Jet Airways on Wednesday raised questions over the source of Rs 200 crore deposited by the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium before the insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT and said it does not align with the resolution plan. Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, representing lenders including SBI and other banks, told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that there are apprehensions about the source of funds, which deposited money for Jalan-Kalrock Consortium's (JKC). "The payment is not compliant with the resolution plan as it mandates that the money is to be paid through JKC," ASG submitted before a three-member NCLAT bench headed by chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday upheld an NCLT order allowing crisis-hit Go First's voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings. A two-member NCLAT bench asked several aircraft lessors of Go First opposing insolvency, to approach National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for any remedy. "The order dated May 10, 2023 allowing insolvency is upheld," said the NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the speed of work in the national capital will increase manifold following the Supreme Court verdict on administration of services as his hands were earlier tied and also announced that the officers who 'obstructed' the work of the people will soon 'face the music'.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of petitions, including the one filed by the Maharashtra government, seeking review of its 2021 judgment by which it had quashed the state law granting reservations to Marathas in admissions and government jobs.
A Judicial member of the appellate tribunal NCLAT has recused himself from hearing a petition filed by tech giant Google, appealing against Rs 936.44 crore penalty imposed by competition watchdog CCI for abusing its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies. On Monday, NCLAT bench Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava ordered Google's appeal to be listed before another bench of which Justice Rakesh Kumar is not a party. It has asked the registry of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to place it before the chairman of the appellate tribunal for this.
In a major relief to media major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday stayed the insolvency proceedings initiated against it earlier this week. Admitting a petition filed by ZEEL Managing Director and chief executive Punit Goenka, the appellate tribunal issued notices to private sector lender IndusInd bank and the interim resolution professional directing them to file a reply in two weeks. NCLAT said the submissions made by both sides need a detailed hearing.
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The NCLAT on Wednesday upheld the orders of the fair trade regulator CCI imposing a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on tech major Google in the Android mobile devices case, with some modifications.
The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a five-judge Constitution bench the dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government over control of services in the national capital.
It asked the Centre to keep allocating food grains to the states, UTs for distribution among migrant workers for free till the pandemic situation exists.
The Centre had on October 5 told the apex court that Mallya cannot be extradited to India until a separate "secret" legal process in the United Kingdom, which is "judicial and confidential in nature is resolved".
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday directed the Kalrock-Jalan consortium, the winning bidder for bankrupt Jet Airways, to share portions of the resolution plan pertaining to claims of employees with the airline's workmen. The Association of Aggrieved Workmen of Jet Airways (India) Ltd had sought a copy of the approved resolution plan and the latest direction has come on a plea filed by the association. The development comes almost seven months after the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the Jalan-Kalrock consortium's resolution plan in June 2021.
Hearing the Centre versus the Delhi government over the issue of demarcation of power, a constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said an elected government needs to have control over the administration.
The apex court had earlier asked the Centre and the RBI to review the move to charge interest on deferred EMIs during the moratorium period.
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, who is facing criminal cases that are being probed by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, to travel abroad.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has directed the new board of the debt-ridden IL&FS Group to distribute Rs 16,361 crore of cash and InvIT units available across the Group to its creditors on pro-rata basis. The interim distribution award of Rs 16,361 crore includes Rs 11,296 crore in cash and Rs 5,065 crore in InvIT units (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) and a majority of this is to be distributed to the creditors of three large group firms -- IL&FS, IFIN and ITNL. "The interim distribution shall be confined only to the entities as reflected in Annexure-6 except those excluded and for the amount of Rs 16,361 crores i.e Rs 11,296 crore of cash and Rs 5,065 crores of InvIT Units," said an order by a two-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
The 102nd Constitution Amendment Act of 2018 inserted articles 338B, which deals with the structure, duties and powers of the National Commission for Backward Classes, and 342A that deals with the powers of the president to notify a particular caste as an SEBC and the power of Parliament to change the list. Article 366 (26C) defines SEBCs.
Terming it as a "world war" against COVID-19, the apex court said that due to the "unprecedented pandemic" everybody in the world is suffering one way or the other.
Justice Bhushan, who was elevated as an apex court judge on May 13, 2016, was part of several landmark judgements including the November 2019 verdict by a five-judge Constitution bench which cleared the way for construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it will pronounce the order on February 10 and will accord day-to-day hearing from February 12.
The apex court has set October 18 as deadline for completion of all arguments in the protracted land title dispute, a move that has raised the possibility of a verdict in the politically sensitive case in the middle of November.
The Centre had earlier the apex court that the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot be paid to the families of those who have died of COVID-19 as the finances of state governments and the Centre are under severe strain.
Besides the CJI, the seniormost judge, Justice N V Ramana, and justices R F Nariman, U U Lalit, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageswara Rao would deal with the PILs and social justice matters, usually involving the Centre and the states, and their instrumentalities as opposite parties.
The petitioner, Avinash Thakur, had sought a direction to the Chief Election Commissioner to postpone the polls due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the ground that the Representation of the People Act provides for the deferment of polls in extraordinary situations.
"This has to be deprecated. This is something which should not be happening," a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah took note of the submissions of the Centre and state governments on steps taken so far to mitigate the miseries of the migrant workers stranded across the country during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Centre has moved the Supreme Court seeking review of the May 5 majority verdict which held that 102nd Constitution amendment took away the power of state governments to declare Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) for grant of quota in jobs and admissions.
Kamra in his reply had defended the alleged scandalous tweets against the judiciary, saying India would be reduced to a "country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs" if powerful people and institutions show inability to "tolerate rebuke or criticism".
Justice S A Bobde will not be available on January 29.
The apex court, which delivered a historic unanimous judgment putting the curtains down on the vexatious legal battle that has torn the social fabric of the nation, said citizens of all faiths, beliefs and creeds 'seeking divine provenance' are both subject to law and equal before law under the Indian Constitution.