Taking suo moto cognisance of difficulties faced by litigants in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to avoid overcrowding at filing counters in courts, the Supreme Court has passed an order dated 23 March 2020 with respect to the period of limitation for filing requirements. A 3 judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India, exercising its powers under Article 142 read with Article 141 of the Constitution of India, directed that the period of limitation in all proceedings before any Court/Tribunal, irrespective of the limitation prescribed under the general law or special law, whether condonable or not, would stand extended with effect from 15 March 2020 till any further orders passed by the Supreme Court in this regard. In effect, if the limitation period for filing of any proceeding, be it a petition, application, suit, appeal or any other proceeding, expired on or after 15 March 2020, the same stands extended. The date till which limitation would s

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on 26 th  March 2020  notified  that retail sale of drugs to the doorstep of consumers is essential to meet the requirements of emergency arising due to pandemic COVID-19. Therefore, in order to regulate the sale and distribution of drugs for their delivery to customers, the following directions have been issued: In case any person holding a license in Form-20 or Form-21 under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 intends to sell, stock or exhibit or offer for sale, or distribute drugs by retail, intends to sell any drug including the drugs specified in Schedule H except narcotics, psychotropics and controlled substances as defined in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and the drugs as specified in Schedule H1 & Schedule X to the said rules, by retail with doorstep delivery of the drug, the licensee can sell such drugs subject to the condition that: Any such sale of a drug specified in Schedule H shall be bas

On 20 March 2020, SEBI issued a press release taking note of the continued volatility in Indian and global stock markets and observed that significant market movements had not yet disrupted settlement cycles in India. SEBI announced a slew of measures which came into effect at the start of trading on 23 March 2020 for a period of 1 month (subject to review at the end of this period). These changes include revision of market wide position limits for stocks in the futures and options segment, increase in margin for stocks in the futures and options segment, increase in cash market margins for stocks which are not futures/options, revised position limits for equity index derivatives, and flexing of dynamic price bands for futures and options stocks. 1.        Revision of Market Wide Position Limit (MWPL) [1] : For futures and options stocks (“ F&O Stocks ”) whose: (a)     average Daily Price High Low variation percentage [2] (during last 5 trading days) was more tha

In the backdrop of the catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19, the Ministry of Labour and Employment of India on 20 March 2020 [1] , has advised the Employers of Public/ Private Establishments to extend their coordination by not terminating their employees, particularly, casual or contractual workers from job or reduce their wages. If any worker takes leave, he should be deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages for this period. Further, if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit will be deemed to be on duty. The Government of Karnataka, on 22 March 2020 [2] ordered that all shops, commercial establishments, workshops, godowns dealing with non-essential services be closed. And all labour intensive industries must work at 50% of their strength on rotation basis. The Government has also advised that the employers do not remove any worker on this account and to sanction paid leave on these days to the rem

Following are the  special measures notified and implemented by the Ministry of Corporate Affair s (MCA) under Companies Act, 2013 and Limited Liability Partnerships Act, 2008 in view of COVID 19 outbreak. Exemption on additional filing fees Any additional fees which is applicable for late filings to any Company or LLPs, will not be charged during a moratorium period from April 01, 2020 to September 30, 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA registry, irrespective of its due date. Holding Board meetings as per section 173 of the Companies Act, 2013 As a one-time relaxation the gap between two consecutive meetings of the Board has been extended to 180 days till September 30, 2020, instead of 120 days. Applicability of The Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 The Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 will now be applicable from financial year 2020-21 instead

The Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, while addressing the nation on March 24, 2020, announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to contain the spread of COVID-19. Shortly thereafter, the National Disaster Management Authority (“ NDMA ”) issued an order dated March 24, 2020 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (“ DM Act ”) noting that it was satisfied that the country is threatened by the spread of COVID-19, and that there is an urgent need to bring about consistency in the application and implementation of various measures across the country while ensuring maintenance of essential services and supplies (“ NDMA Order ”). To this end, the NDMA directed that necessary guidelines be issued immediately. Pursuant to the NDMA Order, and in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 10(2)(l) of the DM Act, 2005, the Ministry of Home Affairs, through the National Executive Committee under the DM Act, issued an order dated March 24, 2020 (“ Lockdown Order ”) for the pr

On 24 March 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs vide its order no. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) issued guidelines to be followed by ministries/departments of the Government of India, State/ Union Territory Governments and Authorities, containing measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. These guidelines were issued by the National Executive Committee under the directions of the National Disaster Management Authority (order No. 1-29/2020-PP(Pt. II) dated 24 March 2020) and in exercise of its powers conferred under Section 10(2)(l) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Guidelines , inter alia , provide for the following containment measures which shall remain applicable for a period of 21 days with effect from 25 March 2020: 1.     All offices of the Government of India, its autonomous/subordinate offices and public corporations shall remain closed except for defence, central armed police forces, public utilities (including petroleum, LPG, CNG, PNG), disaster management, power g

SEBI, vide its circular dated 23 March 2020 ( SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2020/47) has provided for the following relaxations in compliance requirement with respect to mutual funds. A.    Relaxations specified in SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 and circulars issued thereunder : 1.    All schemes (NFO) which are yet to be launched but where observation letter was issued by SEBI shall remain valid for a period of 1 year from the date of such SEBI letter. 2.     All new schemes (NFO) where final observation letter is yet to be issued shall remain valid for a period of 1 year from the date of the SEBI letter. 3.     Timelines for disclosures have also been relaxed, as follows: Particulars of disclosure/ Regulation/ Circular Frequency Original Due Date Extended Date Half yearly disclosures of unaudited financial results as required under Regulation 59 of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 Half yearly