Vedanta Demerger, Indigo’s Blues, Bomb Threats, Upcoming Recess, and More

“Language is not just a medium for communication, but it also shapes our thinking and values,”
— CJI Surya Kant at an event in Etawa, Uttar Pradesh.

Vedanta’s Day in the Sun
Vedanta’s stock jumped to a record after a company court seated in Mumbai granted its seal of approval for the company’s demerger into separate listed companies in an attempt to reduce the debt burden on the parent company.

The company secured this approval to its revised demerger plan despite objections raised by the government’s oil and natural gas ministry and has taken Anil Agarwal’s company one step closer to a strategic move it had been aiming to achieve for a long time now. Agarwal says that subject to remaining approvals, the demerger is likely to be effectuated by March of next year.

Following the severance, each of the companies will work independently with different leadership and its own strategic decisions for capacity building. The parent company Vedanta aims to be debt free in the coming years at the back of this demerger.

With the company’s focus on bringing this demerger to fruition now, the only thing that can potentially slow the process down is perhaps a legal challenge to this nod for the demerger, something that Vedanta sure hopes doesn’t come its way. 

Key Rulings:

• A person with HIV falls under the category of persons with disabilities and is entitled to the protection granted under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Delhi High Court has held

• Delhi High Court holds that right to electricity is a fundamental right under Article 21

Courts: 

• The Delhi High Court issues notice and seeks response from the government’s customs department on Indigo Airline’s plea for refund of 9 billion rupees in re-import duties; Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court ask separate PIL petitioners to join the ongoing case before the Delhi High Court over grievance against the low-cost airline following its disrupted services

• Karnataka High Court seeks details concerning user deposits, winnings, etc from Winzo

• Supreme Court modifies its order to revive a ban, and allow coercive action against, petrol vehicles older than 25 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi NCR if they’re below BS IV

• Supreme Court grants bail to Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in DHFL Bank Fraud Case

• Delhi High Court seeks response from the DGCA on a petition by two pilot bodies questioning the relaxation given in flight duty timing limitation norms, in the wake of Indigo’s service disruption in early December

• Delhi High Court grants relief to Dabur over Pudin Hara mark, bars Wellfound from using the mark

Quasi Courts:

• Competition Commission of India takes cognizance of complaints against Indigo following the disruptions earlier this month

• NCLT’s Mumbai bench approves demerger of Vedanta into five separate entities

Other:

• Bomb threat prompts evacuation at Bombay High Court and other courts in Mumbai as well as Nagpur

The Big Listings:

• Most of the courts will be on winter recess for the remainder of the month

• Jan 5: Supreme Court to hear Delhi NCR air pollution matter

• Jan 19: Securities Appellate Tribunal to hear appeal by Jane Street challenging SEBI’s move to allegedly refuse access to important documents to the firm in the case against it

• Jan 22: Delhi High Court to hear issue relating to Indigo disruption and mass cancellation of flights

• Jan 27: Delhi High Court to hear Apple Inc.’s plea against India’s competition law’s provisions on global turnover-based penalties on MNC

• January: Allahabad NCLT to hear Jaiprakash Associates’ Insolvency case for approval of successful bid

• Apr 8: Delhi High Court to hear Indigo’s petition seeking 9 billion rupees in refund from customs over re-imports

* The dates of hearing can change and a concrete list is prepared just a day before

Legal Moves: 

• Collegium recommends:

• Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo of Orissa High Court as the chief justice of Patna

• Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta of Allahabad High Court as the chief justice of Uttarakhand

• Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay High Court as the chief justice of Meghalaya

• Justice A Muhamed Mustaque of Kerala High Court as the chief justice of Sikkim

• Justice MS Sonak of Bombay High Court as the chief justice of Jharkhand

• Justice Arvind Kumar Verma of Chhattisgarh High Court to be made permanent