News
SCOI Reports
A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur and justices AK Sikri and SA Bobde today ordered a ban on all sales of firecrackers and the issuing of new licences in Delhi.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
The Bar Council of India (BCI) took almost four months before passing 15 Indians holding foreign law degrees, who took the BCI’s qualifying exam that is a prerequisite to transfer their qualification to India, after having charged the candidates at least $32,000 (around Rs 22 lakhs) to sit the exam.
Corporate M&A
“Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, is investing up to Rs 205 crore in electric automotive startup Ather Energy for a 26-30% stake in one of the biggest deals in the nascent sector. Ather has received Rs 180 crore of the total investment with the rest due to be released in tranches. The deal values the three-year-old company at Rs 680 - Rs 790 crore.” reported The Economic Times.
Law firms
Luthra & Luthra has moved its Bangalore office from the Ulsoor Road area to the third floor of Onyx Center on Museum Road, reported Bar & Bench, with space for 40 lawyers.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
“On Wednesday, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana ruled that no one could have copyright over judgments delivered by the apex court. It could be reproduced in its raw form by anyone without the risk of being accused of infringing copyright, the bench said, settling a long-standing dispute,” reported the Times of India.
Law firms
TRA managing partner Anirudh Rastogi has advised on a so-called satellite launch contract for Team Indus, which is the only Indian team competing for the Google-sponsored Lunar XPRIZE, which has set aside $20m for the first 90% privately-funded company to land a robot on the moon and send video footage of its 500m drive on the lunar surface back to earth.
Law schools
For Rhodes 2017 scholars aiming for the Oxford University BCL, international criminal law and human rights law specialisations were top preferences, while honesty, self-reflection and passion were game clinchers.
Private equity / VC
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has invested $10m in Hiveloop Technology, which provides a B2B e-commerce marketplace platform under the brand ‘Udaan’. The company is founded by three former top executives of Flipkart, namely Sujeet Kumar, who led WS Retail at Flipkart, Amod Malviya, ex-CTO of Flipkart, and Vaibhav Gupta, former Senior VP who was leading product management and finance functions at Flipkart.
Law firms
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partners and husband and wife team Harry Chawla and Niti Paul, who were first reported to be leaving in September, are “in the process of setting up our new firm” under the name Atlas Law Partners, Chawla told Bar & Bench.
SCOI Reports
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has scheduled its new elections for 14 December, according to notifications on its noticeboard and Facebook page.
Law schools
Nuals Kochi student Mary Kavita Dominic, NUJS Kolkata’s Gauri Pillai and NLSIU Bangalore's Vanshaj Jain have been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at a postgraduate course of their choice for a year in Oxford University, alongside two other non-law students.
In-house counsel
JPMorgan India has hired Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas consultant Shubhra Tewari as assistant general counsel and vice president legal, taking its total legal team to eight lawyers and three company secretaries.
Bar, Bench & Litigation
Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) president Kirti Uppal, who defeated incumbent president Rajiv Khosla in this year’s DHCBA polls by almost 300 votes, said his vote bank was comprised mostly of first generation lawyers with a practicing experience of five to seven years.
Competition Law
“The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) on Thursday set aside an order of fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) in a case of alleged abuse of dominant position and anti-competitive practices by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and its Indian arm. Dismissing the CCI findings, Compat ordered a fresh probe in the matter,” reported Mint.
Corporate M&A
"Direct-to-home television operator Dish TV will merge with Videocon d2h, creating India’s largest media company by sales. Dish TV is the market leader in the DTH space while Videocon is the third largest by subscribers. Their combined sales in FY16 were Rs 5,920 crore, more than Zee Entertainment, which had sales of Rs 5,850 crore. Both Zee and Dish are part of Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group.
Law schools
NLU Delhi vice chancellor (VC) Prof Ranbir Singh, who on Friday joined the board of the 300-plus member International Association of Universities (IAU), said that the “timing is proper” for liberalisation in Indian legal services.