Author: kkslawoffices

The Supreme Court (SC), while dealing with the issue of whether, under the Constitution of India, the President was competent to repeal Art.370 of the Constitution without any consultation or concurrence of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir, has held that Art.370 was only intended as a transitory provision & was temporary in character & thus, the President was empowered to abrogate it. The SC, while ruling that the President’s action was justified in the present case, noted that Art.370(1)(d) & Art.370(3) were introduced with the purpose of enhancing constitutional integration, thus holding that the power under Art.370(3) cannot be exercised after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly would lead to the freezing of the process of integration.

(Autorité de la concurrence/ALC) has imposed a fine of €4 million on Mariage Frères group (MFG) – one of France’s leading producers of premium teas for hindering commercial freedom of its distributors. The ALC found out that, for almost 15 years, MFG has been forbidding its distributors, both from selling MFG’s products online & from reselling MFG’s products to other retailers. The ALC opined that MFG’s practices limited intra-brand competition and partitioned markets, and constitutes a cartel.

The Lok Sabha has passed the J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 & J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 expanded the meaning of term “socially & educationally backward classes” to include “weak & under-privileged classes”, comprising of people residing in villages declared as socially & educationally backward, areas adjoining the Actual Line of Control & International Border and weak and under-privileged classes (social castes), as notified by the Government. On the other hand, J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 increased the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly from 107 to 114, which would include 2 nominated seats for Kashmiri Migrants & one nominated seat from displaced persons from Pakistan occupied J&K and an amendment in number of seats reserved for people from SC & ST community.

The Supreme Court (SC), while dealing with the issue of whether an arbitration agreement can bind even a non-signatory party, has held that following the ‘group of companies’ doctrine, it is not necessary that only persons who are signatories to the arbitration agreement will be bound by the arbitration agreement. The SC, further opined that, “underlying basis for the application of the ‘group of companies’ doctrine rests on maintaining the corporate separateness of the group of companies while determining the common intention of the parties to bind non-signatories to the arbitration agreement.”

The European Commission, has issued a Statement of Objections, in relation to Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, wherein it has provisionally concluded that the acquisition is likely to result in restricting competition in the market for the manufacturing & supply of Robot Vacuum Cleaners and would allow Amazon to strengthen its position in the market for online marketplace services to third-party sellers and/or other data-related markets.

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally found that the proposed acquisition of Figma by Adobe is likely to become a reverse killer acquisition, having the effect of eliminating competition in the market for product design, image editing & illustration. The CMA has further noted that the deal is likely to reduce innovation & development of new competitive products by both Adobe & Figma.

The Supreme Court (SC), dealing with the repudiation of fire insurance claim by the insurance company, has held that as long as the insured is not the person who caused the fire the insurance company cannot repudiate the insurance claim on the ground that the cause of fire is not certain. The SC, further, opined that insurance is governed by the doctrine of uberrimae fidei – there must be complete good faith on the part of the insured, which was established in the present case.

The Delhi High Court, while dealing with an appeal for setting aside of the Arbitral Award on the ground that the Arbitrator has erred in granting claim of loss of goodwill, without any proof of loss or damage thereof, has held that, it is difficult to establish, with mathematical precision, the quantum of loss of goodwill & in such situations, claim based on liquidated damages as set out in the contract, if accepted, does not make the Arbitral Award patently illegal.

The Delhi High Court, while dealing with an application for unconditional stay of the Arbitral Award, pending challenge for setting aside of the award, under Section 36(3) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, has held that, power to grant unconditional stay of arbitral award is confined only to those cases where the Arbitral Award is induced by fraud.

The Competition & Markets Authority in UK, has provisionally found that the Hanson Quarry Products’ (Hanson) acquisition of Mick George Limited (MGL) raises competition concerns in the market for supply of non-specialist aggregates or ready-mix concrete in East of England & East Midlands. Hanson & MGL are the leading construction material suppliers in the whole of UK & in the East of England and East Midlands, respectively, leading to a likelihood that the acquisition is likely to result in reduction in choice, higher prices & lower quality products for the contractors.