Comments on Indian Laws

10 Important Income Tax Change with effect from 1st April 2018 ( FY 18-19 )

2018-03-18T22:50:00.003-07:00

10 Important Income Tax Change with effect from 1st April 2018 ( FY 18-19 )

CA AMARJIT SINGH

Tax Concessions to Senior Citizens

The Budget 2018 failed to do much for taxpayers as well as the salaried class. However, some sections of society, particularly senior citizens, gained much from its proposals. Whatever be the case, as a taxpayer we need to be aware of the tax proposals of this year’s Union Budget as they are going to impact our earnings as well as the day-to-day lives from the upcoming financial year (2018-2019). Here we are taking a look at 10 such tax rules which will change from 1st April 2018.

1. Health and Education Cess

The Budget 2018 didn’t make any changes in the tax rates or tax slabs for individuals and HUFs, which continue to remain the same for Assessment Year 2019-20 as applicable for AY2018-19. However, it has proposed a new cess – Health and Education Cess – which will be levied at the rate of 4% of income tax, including surcharge, in place of the current 3% Education, Secondary and Higher Education Cess from Financial Year 2018-19 onwards.

2. Reintroduction of standard deduction

At present no standard deduction is available for salaried employees. However, exemption in respect of transport allowance and reimbursement of medical expenses is provided. The Budget 2018 has proposed a standard deduction of a maximum of Rs 40,000. However, the current exemption in respect of transport allowance and reimbursement of medical expenses will be withdrawn. The net benefit will only be Rs 5,800.

3. Deduction in respect of interest earned by senior citizen

Currently, a deduction up to Rs 10,000 is allowed to all individuals in respect of interest income from deposit accounts (not being time deposits) held with any bank, co-operative society and post office.

It is proposed to allow a deduction up to Rs 50,000 in respect of interest income from deposits held with banks, co-operative society and post office by senior citizens. No separate deduction will be available under section 80TTA for interest income from savings account for senior citizens.

4. Medical treatment of senior citizens for specified diseases (Sec 80DDB)

Under the existing provisions, deduction is available to resident individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) for any amount incurred for the medical treatment of specified diseases (i.e. malignant cancers, AIDS, etc). The deduction is limited to Rs 60,000 for expenses relating to senior citizens and Rs 80,000 with respect to very senior citizens. The Budget has proposed to enhance the above deduction limit to Rs 100,000 uniformly for both categories.

5. Enhanced deduction for health insurance, medical expenditure related to senior citizens (Section 80D)

Under the existing provisions, a maximum deduction of Rs 30,000 is allowed to an individual or HUF for payment towards health insurance premium including Rs 5,000 towards preventive health check-up for resident senior citizens. Alternatively, very senior citizens can claim a deduction of Rs 30,000 for payment towards medical expenses where there is no insurance. The Budget 2018 has proposed a maximum deduction of up to Rs 50,000. Besides senior citizens can also claim the deduction for medical expenditure.

6. Compensation on termination or modification of employment

Currently, certain compensation in connection with employment is out of the purview of taxation, leading to base erosion and revenue loss.

“It is proposed that any compensation or other payments due to or received by any person in connection with the termination or the modification of the terms and conditions of any contract relating to his employment shall be taxable under the head income from other sources,” according to a Deloitte report.

7. Extending the benefit of tax-free withdrawal from NPS

At present, an employee contributing to the National Pension System (NPS) is allowed an exemption in respect of 40% of the total amount payable to him on closure of his account or on his opting out. This exemption was not available to non-employee subscribers. The Budget 2018 now proposes to extend the said benefit to all NPS subscribers.

8. Taxability of Long-Term Capital Gains on equity shares

The Budget 2018 has proposed 10% tax on the long-term capital gains (LTCG) arising out of the sale of equity-oriented mutual fund (MF) schemes as well as equity shares, in case of capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh in a year. Also, no benefit of indexation will be given.

9. Exemption from taxation of long-term capital gains invested in specified bonds

Deduction under section 54EC is available in respect of capital gain, arising from the transfer of a long-term capital asset, invested in the long-term specified asset at any time within a period of six months after the date of such transfer. Long-term specified asset means any bond, redeemable after three years and issued on or after the 1st day of April, 2007 by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or by the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL); or any other bond notified by the Central Government. Now Section 54EC is proposed to restrict the exemption in respect of capital gain arising from the transfer of a long-term capital asset, being land or building or both only and not other capital assets. Further, it is proposed to allow the benefit when the redeemable period of specified bonds is 5 years.

10. Taxability of single premium health insurance policies

In case of single premium health insurance policies having the term of more than a year, the Budget 2018 has proposed that deduction should be allowed on proportionate basis for the number of years for which the cover is provided, subject to the specified monetary limit.

Courtesy : CA AMARJIT SINGH

Company Liquidation In UAE

2018-03-14T00:20:00.001-07:00

Company Liquidation In UAE

What does liquidation mean?

The process through which a solitary organization, Limited Liability Company (or a division of a company), institution or sole organization shut down its function and consequently the resources associated and assets of the institution or the group is then circulated among the investors (shareholders) and the receivers that belong to the UAE certified Company. This procedure of liquidation is furthermore acknowledged as winding-up or dissolution, although it apparently mentions the final steps of liquidation process.

Company Liquidation in UAE

With Abu Dhabi at the front position, the UAE has become a hopeful provincial business destination that suggests favorable circumstances and opportunities for advancement. Though in some cases, organizations can confront troublesome money related circumstances or the investors choose to take their business somewhere else. This requires the liquidation company procedures to get introduced.

Termination of Trade permit

In the event when the shareholders (owners) come to a decision to close down their business in the Emirate, then this can have mentioned as trade license cancellation.

The accompanying archives will be documented with a specific end goal to finish this procedure:

· The last record identified with the advantages sold among the procedure endorsed by the investors or by the vendor

· By Ministry of Labor, issue a No-protest letter expressing the endorsement of the cancelation of the permit

· The announcement on the selection of the vendor and organization disintegration

For overseas associates, a travel permit repeal as long as they were subsidized by UAE national

Types of liquidation

As specified over, a Dubai organization can be broken down deliberately or when it can never again pay its obligations, in that case the Company Law accommodates two sorts of organization disintegration methodology in Dubai:

1. Compulsory (often taken as creditors) liquidation

· Happens when the organization's creditors appeal for liquidation.

2. Voluntary (often taken as shareholders, however a few voluntary liquidations are prohibited by the creditors) liquidation

· In this case, the liquidation can begin deliberately, when the investors choose the time has come to end the business movement.

Company liquidation procedure

The Company Liquidation in UAE is required when the individual legal unit is no more capable of making the daily business dealings on daily basis or then again if its loan bosses are not being paid. In severe cases, if a Dubai supervisory agency considers that the corporation has devoted a serious violation, then the liquidation method can be forced on the company.

Credentials mandatory for Company Liquidation

· Present the authorized documents

· Comprised of the name of the selected liquidator

· Authentic registration document

· Together with liquidator’s testimonial’s

All of these archives ought to be authenticated.

After the completion of primary steps of liquidation, the trade have to cancel particular licenses or permits it might have retrieved to carry out a variety of financial activities in UAE.

Branches in UAE will likewise need to give unique reports from the parent organization.

Courtesy : Miss NR Maria

UAE VAT ACCOUNTING TIPS

2018-03-06T03:23:00.001-08:00

UAE VAT ACCOUNTING TIPS

VAT tips is a bullet point section giving you lots of hints on how to effectively maintain your records as well as some general points

Generalities:

VAT will be implemented on 01-01-2018, it is advisable for organizations not to bet on an implementation delay.

The GCC countries implementing the Vat simultaneously are KSA, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait & Oman. Since it seems that only the UAE and KSA will be the early implementers of the VAT as at 01-01-2018.

VAT rate is 5% for the time being as there is no guarantee that there would be a rate increase or a different kind of tax later on.

It is mandatory for businesses to register for VAT if their taxable supplies (Turnover) and/ or imports exceed the mandatory registration threshold of AED 375,000. Furthermore, a business may choose to register for VAT voluntarily if their supplies and imports are less than the mandatory registration threshold, but exceed the voluntary registration threshold of AED 187,500. Similarly, a business may register voluntarily if their expenses exceed the voluntary registration threshold. This latter opportunity to register voluntarily is designed to enable start-up businesses with no turnover to register for VAT.

In the UAE, the tax legislation is being implemented by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) www.tax.gov.ae.

FREE ZONES: articles 50,51 and 52 of the Decree-law 8 state that Designated Zones are to be considered as out of state, this may apply to FENCED free zones (example JAFZA), OPEN free zones may be treated as local companies awaiting clarifications from the soon to be released executive regulation.

Export is zero rated VAT while Import is taxable.

Reverse charge mechanism should be applied to any kind of import of services from a non-GCC country (that logically do not pass through the customs for clearance).

Reverse charge rule: Since it is difficult to enforce the law against the import of services or other intangibles, as it does not pass through the country’s customs. Input VAT on imported services is self-assessed by the recipient who can claim it in reverse (a reverse charge). The reverse charge mechanism moves the responsibility for the reporting of a VAT transaction from the seller to the buyer of a good or service.

Example: Purchase of an antivirus software for AED 1,000/-, since it is an online transaction, no customs are involved. Accordingly, at the time of filing the tax returns, the company should declare that it purchased this service and notifies the authorities that the related VAT is AED 50, but since it is an input tax on the company, it will not incur any payment for the same.

Accounting Entry for VAT :

Debit: the related expense account: 1,000/- AED

Debit: Input Tax account for 50/- AED

Credit Supplier Account for 1,000/- AED

Credit Output Tax account for 50/- AED

As of now, no provision is taken to enable the tourists who purchased goods while visiting the country to reclaim the tax upon exiting the country as in Europe.
Grouping: a grouping is a process of combining the activities of several entities into one group. Such a process will enable the group to report its tax as one entity. We expect a legislation to appear soon outlining the full process.
As of 24/10/2017, it seems they are letting LLC to group with Free Zones if they fill the required parameters.
In the case on an inflicted fine, the company can object the FTA decision through a specified process within 20 business days from notice date. On the other hand, FTA will have an additional 20 business days to revert. Further escalation can be opted for through the Tax Disputes Resolution Committee.
Import: if an import is considered by the customs as being undervalued, they have the authority to charge VAT according to the fair market value. Usually, all related expense incurred to receive the taxable item i.e. CIF (Cost Insurance Freight) are to be included in the import cost and taxed accordingly.
Always be the devil’s advocate, be in the VAT inspector shoes:

While filing for Output tax: this is not the last stage of the filing by any means, VAT inspectors may contact you for further documents justifying your filing and may pop up at any time (within 5 years) asking for proofs that tally to the figures you disclosed and paid your tax accordingly for any given period. It is much advisable to keep a printout of all sales ledgers and proof of export if applicable.
Be prepared and do not let the inspector feel that you are disorganized, which will lead to doubting your records in full. In many instances, the VAT inspection is not carried out randomly, they may have inspected one of your clients or suppliers and accordingly found your company. They also may have chosen a specified business activity and targeted all related companies.

ACCOUNTING:

Reorganize your chart of accounts to accommodate the VAT:
Have separate ledgers for the sales
Local sales falling under normal VAT procedure
Taxable Export Sales (GCC Sales), this ledge may become a twisty issue since some GCC state are not implementing the VAT at 1st of Jan 2018 and accordingly should be treated as non-GCC sales.

Zero-rated export sales.

Sales of VAT exempt products if any.

Have a separate Master account for the VAT which can be as per the following chart:

Master Account	Description	Sub-Master Account	Description	Controls
441	VAT Input Tax	4410	VAT on Purchases	Should be equal to 5% of the cost of sales ledge for a given period
		4411	VAT on Capital Purchases	Should be equal to 5% of any new fixed asset acquisition for a given period
		4412	VAT on expenses	Should be equal to 5% of the total taxable expenses for a given period
442	VAT Output tax	4420	VAT on sales	Should be equal to 5% of the total taxable income for a given period (including taxable export (GCC)

		4421	VAT on advance payments received	Advance amounts received /105 x 5 (i.e. a temporary VAT collection) as if the client is paying with VAT

Under each Sub Master Account, a detailed ledger by name should be created to each Supplier client of any other Debtor and Creditor. The reason behind that is being able to cross check in 2 ways:

Total taxable sales x 5 % should be equal to the total of Sub-master A/C 4410, the same goes to all sub-master accounts as indicated above. By using any similar layout, you will easily cross-check your figures without resorting to complex excel sheets, you should immediately tackle any discrepancy as it may be a false voucher entry or something more complicated.

By having a detailed VAT accounts by name, you can check the VAT levied on/by any specified client/ supplier without having to do any manual calculation, furthermore the simplicity if this procedure will enable the organization to answer any query raised by the authorities on a specified subject without going into multiple cross-checking.

You will find here-below a specimen of an entry having VAT:

Sales Entry Specimen
Date: 02-01-2018
Account	Name	Debit	Credit
41110001	Client: Company A	105,000.00
44200001	VAT on Sales: Company A		5,000.00
70010001	Sales under VAT		100,000.00
		105,000.00	105,000.00

The double benefit of such an entry is that the Sub-Master account of the Sales under VAT (7001) multiplied by 5% should be equal to the Sub-Master of VAT on Sales (4420); Furthermore, the company can at any time check the amount of VAT levied on any given client by logging to the related auxiliary under Sub-Master (4420) as there is a possibility that the authorities will require the company to disclose the amount of VAT levied on any given client to cross-check the supplied figures.

A much complex entry will be as follows:

Sales Entry Specimen
Date: 02-01-2018
Account	Name	Description	Debit	Credit
41110001	Client: Company A	Sales Invoice N° 1	10,000.00
44200001	VAT on Sales: Company A	Sales Invoice N° 1		476.19
41110002	Client: Company B	Sales Invoice N° 2	5,000.00
44200002	VAT on Sales: Company B	Sales Invoice N° 2		238.10
41110003	Client: Company C	Sales Invoice N° 3	3,000.00
44200003	VAT on Sales: Company C	Sales Invoice N° 3		142.86
41110004	Client: Company D	Sales Invoice N° 4	2,000.00
44200004	VAT on Sales: Company D	Sales Invoice N° 4		95.24
41110005	Client: Company E	Sales Invoice N° 5	6,000.00
44200005	VAT on Sales: Company F	Sales Invoice N° 5		285.71
41110006	Client: Company G	Sales Invoice N° 6	8,000.00
44200006	VAT on Sales: Company G	Sales Invoice N° 6		380.95
41110007	Client: Company H	Sales Invoice N° 7	7,000.00
44200007	VAT on Sales: Company H	Sales Invoice N° 7		333.33
41110008	Client: Company I	Sales Invoice N° 8	6,000.00
44200008	VAT on Sales: Company I	Sales Invoice N° 8		285.71
41110009	Client: Company J	Sales Invoice N° 9	8,000.00
44200009	VAT on Sales: Company J	Sales Invoice N° 9		380.95
41110010	Client K – India	Sales Invoice N° 10	9,000.00
70010001	Sales under VAT	Total Sales for the day		52,380.95
70100001	Sales – Export	Total Sales for the day		9,000.00
			64,000.00	64,000.00

You will notice in this example that we did include a sales figure falling under (export) and how usually it should be processed.

General Expense Entry Specimen
Date: 02-01-2018
Account	Name	Description	Debit	Credit
63050001	Stationary	Office Square Inv#350	1,750.00
44120001	VAT on expenses/ Office Square	Office Square Inv#350	87.50
46100001	Other suppliers – Office Square	Total Sales for the day		1,837.50
			1,837.50	1,837.50

Purchase Entry Specimen
Date: 02-01-2018
Account	Name	Description	Debit	Credit
60010001	Cost of Supplies	Purchase of goods Company Z Inv# 420	40,000.00
44120001	VAT on Purchases/ Company Z	Purchase of goods Company Z Inv# 420	2,000.00
40010001	Current Account Company Z	Purchase of goods Company Z Inv# 420		42,000.00
60010001	Cost of Supplies	Purchase of goods Company R Inv# 5007	7,000.00
44120002	VAT on Purchases/ Company R	Purchase of goods Company R Inv# 5007	350.00
40010002	Current Account Company R	Purchase of goods Company R Inv# 5007		7,350.00
			49,350.00	49,350.00

A couple of comments on the Purchase entry:

There are 2 invoices for supplies from 2 different suppliers.

We used 2 separate auxiliaries for the VAT under one master account.

Upon filing the tax returns, the accountant must cross check the total amount purchased (40,000+7000) =47,000 and multiply it by 5% to get the exact amount of Input VAT which should be in our example 2,350/- and equals to the sum up of the master account of 4412 (2,000+350).

By using this system, the company can easily calculate the input tax, and at the same time, in the case the authorities requested to know the exact amount of VAT levied on us by Company Z for example, auxiliary account 44120001 will show the amount without complications or multiple cross-checking.

Have all your suppliers and clients VAT numbers registered on in the operating system?

Invoicing

All outgoing invoices should hold the company VAT registration number.

The Invoice should show the official client name as per his Trade License / or VAT registration.

It should show the client complete address and phone number, the same goes to the Export.

VAT calculation should be on an item basis and not on a full invoice basis, the problem will arise in the case the company is selling items exempt from tax.

The VAT showing on the invoice should be in UAE Dirhams as per article 69 of the Decree-law 8, even if the issued invoice bears another currency. the conversion rate to be applied is the one published by the central bank.

Invoice: VAT is calculated on a line basis and not on an invoice level, since some of the items sold in the said invoice may be exempt from tax. The above example shows a straightforward error due to VAT miscalculation.

VAT process should be well clear at the invoicing level to put controls and determine who/what is taxable and what can be considered zero-rated or exempt.

VAT declaration may be monthly or quarterly (solely depends on local legislation).
Corporations in the UAE are expected to keep their VAT records for 5 years, whereas their Saudi counterparts should keep it 10 years.

The FTA is in a position to request reports supporting the tax refund claims in detail, but exact types of reports are not disclosed yet. As a precaution, companies should keep a copy of their yearly accounting data, purchase and sales ledgers, invoice copies (hard or soft), as well as the clients proof of export in case products or services, are shipped overseas.

If the Operating system cannot provide the sales breakdown by Emirate, this operation should be undertaken by the accounting software since we are assuming that the tax authorities may be requiring the company to state in which Emirate the income/service is made.

One sequence is enough for all invoices (VAT or no VAT), but the companies Operating System should be able to easily index and reference these invoices.

PROFORMA is not taxable but since it is widely used, some kind of legislation should be in place before VAT implementation.

Taxable income is calculated on an accrual basis, for example, if an agreement is made by 2017 covering 3 years period, it does not mean that it is not taxable. The authorities will consider when the service is executed to apply tax and failing to accurately report the income may result in the company being liable to penalties due to tax evasion.

Keep records of your suppliers and client’s identities since the authority may check your records at any given time.

Keep a register of your client’s proof of export when it applies.

Zero Rated VAT applies to the below categories:

Exports of goods and services to outside the GCC;

International transportation, and related supplies;

Supplies of certain sea, air and land means of transportation (such as aircrafts and ships);

Certain investment grade precious metals (e.g. gold, silver, of 99% purity);

Newly constructed residential properties, that are supplied for the first time within 3 years of their construction;

Supply of certain education services, and supply of relevant goods and services;

Supply of certain health care services and the supply of relevant goods and services.

Bad Debt:

This is by far the most unfair circumstance that may happen to a company. In such an instance, a company invoices its client and pays the due output tax; while client declares insolvency before settling his dues. The legislation states that VAT registered businesses will be able to reduce their output tax liability by the amount of VAT that relates to the bad debt which has been written off by the VAT registered business. The legislation will include the conditions and limitations concerning the use of this relief.

Pro rata: An issue will arise if the company is dealing with taxable supplies as well as exempt ones. Output tax is relatively easy to work with if the systems are compliant to VAT. The complication is in the company’s General Expense. Till date, all companies are accounting those said expenses in one ledge. Companies having such a case should seek the FTA’s advice in order not to fall into any problem later on. Basically, what happened in other countries is that they agree with the local authorities on a percentage base on which General expenses will be divided on a pro-rata basis.
Proof of export: If the entity is engaged in exporting goods and services, it is crucial to keep records on how the taxable item was shipped (for 5 years), otherwise the VAT authorities may reconsider the sale as local transaction and accordingly claim the related output tax.
Debit & Credit Notes: Special attention should be taken while issuing those notes as they will be under scrutiny from the tax authorities. If Credit Notes are linked to a taxable income, a company can reclaim the VAT calculated on the corresponding proportion within a given timeframe while sufficient proof may be required in case of inspection. Debit Notes may need to include VAT too, pending to get the final legislation.

Transition between 2017 & 2018

The transition between 2017 and 2018 may prove to be the most challenging when it comes to VAT reporting. 2017 is the last year of having complete liberty on how to record your business transactions, even if it is not according to IAS or GAAP, while this should be immediately adjusted prior to stepping into 2018.

The management should have a clear picture on how to deal with any business activity that is related to 2018, mainly the work in progress and cross year contracts. Even though the legislation is not yet very specific on such issues, common sense dictates that any business activity related to 2018 and beyond should be recorded in work in progress and not in 2017 income. Even if the invoice was issued for any given reason, the 2018 part should remain in WIP and not in the revenue ledgers.

Companies should pay attention to the overlapping agreements between 2017 and 2018. Most of the agreements made during 2017 and earlier periods did not take the VAT into consideration; hence, a special attention should be taken to allocating the income/expense on the pro rata basis and calculating the VAT on the 2018 related amount.

Invoicing the full contracts for periods crossing 2018 and registering it as a 2017 income is, in fact, a tax evasion that is punishable by law.

Courtesy : www.uaevathelp.com/vat-tips/

22 Great Tips for Enhancing Your LinkedIn Profile

2018-03-02T22:03:00.001-08:00

22 Great Tips for Enhancing Your LinkedIn Profile

A KILLER LINKEDIN PROFILE

A killer LinkedIn profile is mandatory if you want to grow your personal brand and company. Even though you’re busy, LinkedIn is one place you can’t forget. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.

Here are 22 top tips to effectively boost your LinkedIn profile

1. Must Do: Keep Your Profile Basics Updated!

Many people forget to keep their LinkedIn profiles updated. Whether you’re a total newbie, just starting a new job, or starting to explore new opportunities, there’s no excuse to have outdated information on LinkedIn. It will reflect badly on you.

Here are two quick and easy areas you must check are up to date:

· Professional Headline: The job of any headline is to entice people to click. At minimum, you can use your headline to highlight your current position and company (e.g., “Director of Inbound Marketing at ABCXYZ Corporation”), but you can and should go further. Highlight your expertise (e.g., “Content Marketing Strategist and Copywriter”) or awards, or showcase skills you want to turn up in searches (e.g., “Speaker, Trainer, Author, Consultant, and Evangelist”). Tell everyone on LinkedIn who you are, what you do, and why you’re someone they need to connect with.

· Location and Industry: Are your location and industry still accurate? If not, fix them now!

Doing these two simple things will help more people find you and help you find more relevant potential contacts.

2. Only Use Professional Photos

LinkedIn profiles that have a picture are 11 times more likely to be viewed. So if you’re still showing a silhouette, it’s time to make a change and reveal yourself.

However, some friendly advice:

Your LinkedIn photo shouldn’t be from 20 years ago. It shouldn’t look like it belongs on a dating site, stock photo site, or social network (e.g., Facebook or Instagram). And don’t feature your pet or significant other. Just. No.

LinkedIn is for professionals. Be one.

3. Brand Your Profile With a Background Photo

Does your LinkedIn profile look boring and average?

Give your profile page a bit more personality, or branding, with a visually appealing background image.

LinkedIn advises users to use an image (PNG, JPG, or GIF) with a resolution of 1400x425.

4. Write a Ridiculously Good Summary

This is where you really sell yourself to potential connections. Your summary should expand on what appears in your headline, highlighting your specialties, career experience, noteworthy accolades, and thought leadership.

There has been much discussion about whether it’s best to write in first-person versus third-person narrative here. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter either way — just stay consistent with whichever you choose. Don’t go back and forth between first person and third person as it’s confusing and signals a lack of attention to detail.

In summary of LinkedIn summaries: keep your ego in check, focus on the most relevant details about your career, avoid meaningless jargon, and ensure it’s easy to read.

5. Terminate Those Typos

Poor grammar, typos, and misspellings are a no-no. Avoid typos at all costs.

6. Use Keywords with Intent

Words are so incredibly important, especially when search is a big part of the equation. Using the right keywords in your profile is the difference between being found and being invisible.

Identify the words you want to be found for when people use LinkedIn search and use those keywords in your headline, summary, and profile. Using the right keywords will expose you to more potential connections and opportunities.

7. Neat Trick: Pick the “Other” Website Option

Under your Contact Info, LinkedIn gives you the option to link to a website or blog. But by default, the text that shows in your profile is the extremely dull “Blog” or “Website.” Anyone visiting your profile has no clue where they’ll end up if they click on that.

Want to use your actual brand or business name? You can! Here’s a simple little trick.

When editing the Websites area of your profile, select the “Other” option. Now you can add your own website title and URL.

8. Personalize Your LinkedIn Profile URL

When you created your LinkedIn profile, it had some ugly combination of letters, numbers, and backslashes that had no value for your personal branding. You don’t still have this, right?

If you do, it’s time to customize your public profile URL. For example, my customized URL is https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrykim. LinkedIn makes it simple to keep your profile consistent with your other social profiles.

9. Own Your Media

Visual content is only growing in importance.

Help your LinkedIn profile pop by adding documents, photos, videos, and presentations.

10. Add Shiny New Sections to Your Profile

LinkedIn lets you add several sections to give your profile more visual appeal and depth. You can add sections for posts, volunteering, languages, honors and awards, patents, causes you care about, and many more.

All of these sections open you up to more opportunities to make new connections.

11. Tidy Up Your Endorsements

People are going to endorse you for all sorts of skills — sometimes even skills you don’t actually have. But just because you’ve been endorsed for Fire Eating, Chewing Gum, or Showers (yes, these are all real “areas of expertise,” according to LinkedIn) doesn’t mean you have to show other LinkedIn users — unless, of course, fire eating plays a critical role in your professional life.

LinkedIn lets you remove any irrelevant skills and endorsements. You should avoid “lying” about your skill set, even if it is by omission.

12. Connect With People You Don’t Yet Know

One of the biggest mistakes people make on LinkedIn is failing to reach out to connect with people you want to know but don’t yet. That’s the whole point of networking — getting to know new people, not just established connections.

Building out your LinkedIn network has many benefits. You get in front of influencers. You get more endorsements. More people see your best content, share that content, and visit your website. And it’s great for personal branding.

Have you considered using LinkedIn more like Twitter? You should!

13. Personalize Invitations to Connect

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

The default message LinkedIn provides is so dreadfully boring and impersonal.

When you invite someone to connect, make it more personal — mention where you met or a topic you discussed in a LinkedIn group, over email, or during a phone interview. This personal touch will increase the odds they’ll accept your request.

14. Publish Amazing Posts

LinkedIn posts offer another way to grow your influence, gain more visibility, and acquire new followers.

Your existing connections are notified whenever you publish. New people can discover your posts via search.

Always think about the audience you want to reach. Highlight your expertise and interests by posting awesome content. Just make sure your posts are appropriate for the 400 million business professionals who use LinkedIn.

15. Find and Join Groups

One way to start connecting with people you want to know is to join LinkedIn groups. Whether it’s a group run by a major publication, a group for people with certain job titles, or a group dedicated to a niche topic, there are millions of groups to choose from, so start searching to find groups that are right for you and join them.

Join discussions. Start interesting discussions. Don’t sell your product or service or promote yourself — sell your expertise! That will help build your personal brand.

16. Find People through Search and Advanced Search

LinkedIn search is your gateway to future connections. Search for people by name, company, or skills.

But you can go much deeper.

LinkedIn’s advanced search helps you find people by job title, school, relationship, location, industry, current/past company, profile language, and non-profit interests — with additional search options for Premium members.

17. Stalk Users Openly or Stealthily

Whenever you view someone’s profile, LinkedIn will share your name and headline. LinkedIn recommends this.

But sometimes you might want to be a bit stealthier before connecting. If this is the case, you’ll need to manage your privacy under Accounts & Settings.

LinkedIn offers a couple of less revealing options. You can reveal only that “Someone at ABCXYZ Corporation” or “Someone in the Online Media Industry” viewed the profile. But if that isn’t enough, then you can go totally private and users will be told only that a LinkedIn user viewed their profile.

18. Remember Where and When You Met What’s-His-Name

Once you’ve grown your network to thousands, it can be a bit daunting to remember every single person, or to stay in touch with a few important connections.

Luckily, LinkedIn makes this easy. In the Relationship section, in addition to telling you the date when you connected, LinkedIn allows you to write notes about your contact, including how you met, or set reminders to “check in” at intervals from a day to every year.

Don’t worry, these notes and reminders are only visible to you!

19. Build Extraordinary Business Relationships

When someone accepts your request to connect, don’t start pitching your service or product. This is a relationship killer.

Start slow. Comment on, share, or Like their posts.

LinkedIn even makes it super simple to stay in touch, telling you when contacts are celebrating work anniversaries or starting new jobs. Again, these are opportunities to Like or comment.

Build the relationship and trust before you start asking for favors!

20. Use (but Don’t Abuse) Status Updates

LinkedIn status updates are your chance to highlight some of your recent work, share an article or book you’ve read, promote your presence at a conference or event, or offer inspiration through a quote or saying.

Because LinkedIn is a business network, it’s best to use it during business hours. Keep active, but don’t go overboard.

Try to post an update at least once a day at minimum; aim for a maximum of three or four updates per day, as long as you’re sharing useful, relevant content. Every update is another opportunity to strengthen or forge a connection.

21. Be Positive

What you say reflects on you. Never post negative comments about someone’s post or a past employer.

Instead, pause and think if there’s a way you can rethink and rewrite in a constructive way — if you can’t, just hit the delete button and go do something else to shift focus.

22. Ask for Recommendations

So you haven’t received as many LinkedIn recommendations as you’d like? After all, it takes a bit of time and thought for someone to write a recommendation.

What can you do? Ask for them! LinkedIn makes is super easy, providing an “Ask to be recommended” link, where you can specify what you want to be recommended for, who you want to recommend you, and write a personal message.

Pick specific people. Don’t just randomly ask all your contacts if they can recommend you. Be selective.

Share details in your message to your connection. If there are specific skills you want your contacts to highlight in his or her recommendation, don’t be shy, tell them.

Another way to increase the likelihood that you’ll get a great recommendation: Give a great recommendation to someone you’ve worked with. This increases the odds that your contact will feel obligated to return the favour.

Bonus Tip: Export Your LinkedIn Connections

One last helpful tip: Remember to occasionally download your connections. After you’ve gone to all the trouble of building an amazing network, you don’t want to risk losing their contact info!

To do this, click on Connections, then Settings (the gear icon), and on the next page, under Advanced Settings, you’ll see a link to export your LinkedIn connections as a .CSV file.

Now you have a file containing your contacts’ first and last names, email addresses, job titles, and companies.

Summary

Now you know everything you need to do to refresh your LinkedIn profile. Make yourself look amazing, wow future connections, and grow your influence. It all starts with a killer profile.

Courtesy : Mr Larry Kim

COMPLIANCES UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN INDIA

2018-03-01T23:26:00.000-08:00

COMPLIANCES UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN INDIA

The Origin of Environmental Laws in India

Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to life and personal liberty as a fundamental right. The Supreme Court of India in 1978 breathed substantive life to this Article in the case of Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India (1978). In the case Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar (1991), the Supreme Court of India declared that Article 21 “includes the right of enjoyment of pollution free water and air for full enjoyment of life”.

Since then right to live in a healthy environment has emerged as an inherent part of the Right to Life enshrined in Article 21.

The first PIL on environmental issues in the country before the Supreme Court of India was the case, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra vs. State of UP (1988).

Common Mistakes committed by various Industries in India

The majority of the Factory Manager, EHS Manager, etc. — are unaware of all the nuances of environmental regulations or are unclear about their interpretation, attracting avoidable liabilities for their facility and organisation.

Failure to obtain valid Environmental Permits

Setting up an industry in India requires environmental permits among several other licenses, and some industrial facilities do not obtain the Environmental Clearance (EC), Consent to Establish (CTE), or Consent to Operate (CTO) permits that are required for operation. Other environmental permits including Hazardous Wastes Authorisation and Bio-medical Wastes Authorisation must also be obtained depending on operations conducted at the facility.

In other cases, industries that initially obtained these permits do not renew the same prior to the dates of expiration. Others do not obtain prior consent from the concerned State Pollution Control Board (SPCB)/ Pollution Control Committee (PCC) before making changes to installed equipment, processes, raw materials, or production (including changes to production capacity and product mix).

Omission of Details of Site Operations in Applications, Statutory Records & Returns:

Another common observation is omission of details of site operations from applications for environmental permits as well as from statutory records and returns

Water Cess Returns	Form-1
Annual Environmental Statement	Form-V
Annual Hazardous Waste Returns	Form-4
Annual Report under Bio-medical Waste Rules, 1998	Form-II
Record of Hazardous Wastes	Form-3
Hazardous Waste Labels	Form-12
Hazardous Wastes Manifests	Form-13
Returns under Batteries Rules, 2001	Form-I
Records under E-Waste Rules, 2011	Form-2

Some common details often omitted from records and returns include:

• Details of water consumed for different applications are omitted in water cess returns;

• Emissions from stacks fire water pumps and vents of local exhaust systems are omitted in Consent applications and Form V;

• Cooling tower blow-down is omitted in Consent applications and Form V;

• Empty chemical containers and waste oil are omitted in application for Authorisation and in Form 3 and Form 4;

• Analysis results for soil and groundwater monitoring are omitted in Form 3;

• Hazardous waste categories are omitted in Form 12 and Form 13; and

• The date of generation of hazardous waste is omitted in Form 12.

Lack of Proper Waste Management:

One of the areas where compliance gaps are commonly observed across a spectrum of industries is in the area of waste management. The compliance gaps observed include:

• Inadequate segregation of wastes;

• Lack of documented records of waste characterisation and inventory;

• Lack of prescribed labels on containers of hazardous chemicals and hazardous wastes;

• Lack of appropriate storage areas (i.e., designated, segregated, weather-proof storage areas with secondary containment, impervious floors, and appropriate caution boards for hazardous chemicals, fuels, and hazardous wastes); and

• Lack of documented information regarding the waste vendors and final fate of disposed wastes

Lack of Spill Response Plans and Equipment:

A spill in a factory can cause significant loss to life and property, especially in factories using and storing hazardous chemicals. While maintaining a spill response plan and associated equipment is not an explicitly stated regulatory requirement under present Indian laws, this is necessary to comply with the General Duty clauses contained under the

· Factories Act, 1948;

· the Manufacture, Storage & Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 as amended 2000 (hereinafter “MSIHC Rules, 1989”);

· and the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling & Transboundary Movement) Rules 2008 (hereinafter “Hazardous Wastes Rules, 2008”).

Due to the lack of explicit regulatory requirements, most factories are not aware of this, and spill response plans are often absent in Indian factories.

Effluent Discharge without Treatment:

Certain industries discharge effluents into the environment (such as through storm runoff; used fire water; cooling tower blow-down; floor and drum washings) without adequate prior treatment. By allowing the discharge of polluting matter into streams, drains, sewers, or on land, they potentially violate Section 7 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Should it be proved that the untreated effluent contains polluting matter in excess of prescribed standards, such industries could face stringent enforcement measures. Should such discharge be proven to be the cause of environmental degradation (on-site or off-site), liability to clean-up and restore the environment to its original state may be required.

Sum-Up

It is imperative for the industry to understand that what’s good for the environment is also beneficial to the business. Environmental protection and commercial success are not mutually exclusive; rather, they complement each other.

Courtesy: Mr. Pranav Sinha, AIEMA, PEA

Co-Authors: Mr.Ashutosh Senger, Ms.Shweta Arora,

MEET THE MAN WHO HELPED TO AIRLIFT MORE THAN 4700 DEAD BODIES OF FOREIGN EMPLOYEES WHO DIED IN UAE

2018-02-28T22:37:00.001-08:00

MEET THE MAN WHO HELPED TO AIRLIFT MORE

THAN 4700 DEAD BODIES OF FOREIGN

EMPLOYEES WHO DIED IN UAE

Meet Mr. Ashraf , a Migrant from Kerala in UAE

Do you know who has signed the application for transporting Actress Sri Devi body from Dubai to Mumbai recently? Is it Boni Kapoor, Sri Devi’s Husband? No. It is by Mr. Ashraf, a Keralite who lives in UAE.

As on date, Mr. Ashraf has helped about 4700 dead bodies’ migrant employees who died at UAE to reach their native nations for last rites.

UAE's Law

As per UAE laws, a resident in UAE has to sign the legal papers for transporting dead bodies of migrant employees who died in UAE.

Mr. Ashraf, aged 44, who is doing this sacred work without any expectation from anybody for last few decades. You have to just call him through his mobile number and that’s all , he will be there to help you.

Mr. Ashraf is an expert in UAE’s laws and to all the of the poor migrant employees’ families who died in UAE during their stay at UAE, he is a god .

Mr.Ashraf's Dedicated Service

Mr. Ashraf is helping to transport about 30 to 40 dead bodies per month. Only, the families have to pay legal fees that is payable to UAE’s government and Mr.Ashra is not charging any fees for his dedicated bereaved families.

Further , he refused to accept thanks call through phone from the bereaved families for his dedicated services by saying that he is doing his service in the name of Allah and not expecting anything from anybody.

Don't Say Thanks

Please don’t call me to say thanks as I can concentrate more on other calls for seeking my help to transport their relative’s dead bodies from UAE.

Mr. Ashraf is feeling humble that he is helping those relatives who want to see their deceased relative’s face at least for the last time.

Will the Indian Government and UAE's

Government Recognize Mr.Ashraf

Mr. Ashraf’s dedicated service to the sofciety is yet to be recognised by Indian Government and by UAE’s government. Will the External Minister Mrs Sushma Swaraj will come forward to recognise his service?

Will the UAE government come forward to waive the legal fees payable for transporting dead bodies to their native nations as majority of the dead bodies are belonging to poor workmen who have come to UAE for their livelihood?

What are the Compliances for the Hotel Industry in India ?

2018-02-27T22:30:00.000-08:00

What are the Compliances for the Hotel Industry in India ?

Compliances for Hotel Industry in India

The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth among the services sector in India. Tourism in India has significant potential considering the rich cultural and historical heritage, variety in ecology, terrains and places of natural beauty spread across the country. Tourism is also a potentially large employment generator besides being a significant source of foreign exchange for the country

The hospitality sector has the potential to be the main driving force behind the growth of the economy. It, however, will be possible only with the right amount of support and incentives from the government in all categories of hotels and not only limited to the luxury and ultra-luxury segment. I believe that the government must provide its full support in incentivizing the sector and the overall taxation on the hospitality sector should be reduced to stimulate its growth and make India competitive against other internationally renowned hospitality chains.

BUSINESS REGISTRATION

It is recommended that a hotel to be setup under an artificial legal entity like company or LLP.

POST INCORPORATION COMPLIANCES:

Company or LLP have to comply post incorporation compliances.

GST REGISTRATION

Every business carrying out a taxable supply of goods or services and whose turnover exceeds the threshold limit is required to register as a normal taxable person. This process of registration is called GST registration. Entities without GST registration would not be allowed to collect GST from a customer or claim input tax credit of GST paid or could be penalised.

GST RETURN FILING

GST return filing is mandatory for all entities having GST registration, irrespective of business activity or sales or profitability during the return filing period.

The beauty of the system is that one has to manually enter details of one monthly return – GSTR-1. The other two returns – GSTR 2 & 3 will get auto-populated by deriving information from GSTR-1 filed by you and your vendors.

FIRE SAFETY PERMIT

A fire safety certificate or permit is required for the Fire Department is a must for operating a hotel business. Fire safety certificate is usually provided if the building has incorporated proper fire prevention and fire safety measures as required under the relevant fire safety rules and regulations.

POLICE LICENSE FOR HOTEL

Hotels are public places that are monitored closely by the Police Department. Therefore, all hotels must maintain proper log of all Guests who have stayed at the hotel, follow relevant regulations and maintain a valid permit from the Police Department.

PF REGISTRATION

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Registration is required for any establishment that employs more than 20 persons/employee in India. If any Hotel have more than 20 person/employees then EPF registration is mandatory.

ESI REGISTRATION

Employees State Insurance (ESI) registration is mandatory in India for Businesses that employ 10 or more employees. To maintain compliance with the ESI Regulations, the employer must contribute 4.75% of the wages for all employees earning Rs.21,000 or less toward ESI employer dues. The employee is required to contribute 1.75% of his/her wagesas ESI dues. .

SHOPS & ESTABLISHMENTS

Shop and Establishment is a subject matter of state to state. Different state has different Shop and establishment Act. The Shop and Establishment Act is regulated by the Department of Labour and regulates premises wherein any trade, business or profession is carried out.

The act not only regulates the working of commercial establishments, but also societies, charitable trusts, printing establishments, educational institutions run for gain and premises in which banking, insurance, stock or share brokerage is carried on.

BAR LICENSE

If the hotel operates a bar or serves alcohol in the restaurants, a Bar license will be required from the relevant authorities. Bar license is usually provided by departments operating under the State Government. Hence, the requirement for bar license varies from state to state.

FOOD BUSINESS LICENSE

Food business license (FSSAI) under the Food Safety and Standard Act is required for operating a restaurant in India. The FSSAI food business license is usually provided for one year and is renewal at the end of each year.

PROFESSIONAL TAX:

Profession Tax is a tax levied on a person engaged in any profession, trade, calling and employment in India.

OTHER COMPLIANCES:

Other Law and regulations are also applicable on the hotel industry but applicability of other compliances is business to business of the Hotel.

Courtesy: Mr. Karan Khattri

Conditions Precedents & Damages in Infrastructure Contracts (BOT)

2018-02-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

Conditions Precedents & Damages in Infrastructure Contracts (BOT)

BOT Contracts

In most of the Build operate Transfer types of contracts (BOT), we normally see a chapter called conditions Precedent. These conditions precedents impose certain obligations on both the parties which are to be fulfilled or waived off for the starting of the project work by fixing the appointed date. Many a times arbitral tribunals get confused in differentiating the conditions precedents from the other contract terms and conditions.

Conditions Precedent

Conditions precedent are the conditions which are to be full filled by the parties to the contract before starting the main contracts. That means, the main contract comes into force only when the parties either fulfil all the conditions precedents or waive them off. Let us examine in this article the scope and law relating to conditions precedents in the light of Indian Contract Act.

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE OF AN OFFER

We are all aware that an offer of a party should be accepted unconditionally by the other party to the contract to achieve a concluded contract. In case if the accepting party accepts the offer with a condition then the said conditional acceptance does not result in a concluded contract, it becomes a counter offer. Only if the other party accepts the counter offer without any condition then it becomes a concluded contract.

Contingent Contracts.

But at the same time Indian Contract Act expressly recognizes contingent contracts. Indian contract Act S.31 defines contingent contracts as follows: The said section makes it clear that the said contract gets the status of a concluded / enforceable contract only after the said conditions are fulfilled. If the conditions precedent is neither fulfilled nor waived by the parties, the said second part of the contract will never have any force or ability to get enforced.

But the arbitrator or the Judge where ever contract expressly categorize the conditions as conditions precedent, should evaluate the provisions of the contract and decide whether those conditions are conditions precedent or conditions subsequent. Conditions subsequent are the conditions which are to be fulfilled only after the starting of the contract.

T.V. Kochuvareed case

In such contracts, if the contracts get terminated or pre-closed prior to appointed date/ prior to fulfilling the conditions precedent by the parties, the parties to the contracts do not get the right to claim damages. In T.V. Kochuvareed caseTravancore – Cochin High Court held as follows: “The next aspect to be considered is whether the plaintiff is entitled to get any amount by way of damages in this case. Here again the question of damages can arise only when there is a subsisting contract. We have definitely found that the agreement under Ex.D was only a contingent contract and that on account of the failure of the contingency resulting in the contract becoming impossible of performance, the whole contract fell through. Thus it cannot be said that there has been any breach of contract on the part of defendant 1, with the consequent liability for payment of damages. “

Hence, if the contingency mentioned in the contract is not fulfilled the contract becomes impossible of performance and hence there can be no breach from that contract and hence there can be no damages also.

Courtesy – S.RAVI SHANKAR – ARBITRATION LAWYER

"Death of Policyholder patient due to Malaria after Mosquito Bite is an accidental death and hence Insurance Company is liable to pay the sum assured."

2016-12-26T22:55:00.001-08:00

"Death of Policyholder patient due to Malaria after Mosquito Bite is an accidental death and hence Insurance Company is liable to pay the sum assured."

In an interesting Case of National Insurance Co. Ltd. V/s Mosumi Bhattacharjee, (R.P. No.1270/2016), a question came before the National Commission to decide whether death of a Policy holder due to Malaria after a mosquito bite can be termed as accidental Death ?

Facts in short.

1. Late Mr. Debashish Bhatacharjee, the husband of the Complainant took the home loan from Bank of Baroda and along with it, he also availed facility of Term insurance like policy by name "Bank of Baroda Loan Suraksha Vima", issued by the National Insurance Co. Incase of an accidental death, the policy amount was to be paid to the claimants

2. During the subsistence of the Policy, the Policy holder died due to Malaria and hence his legal heirs (LRs) applied to the Insurance Company fir getting the sum assured.

3. But the Insurance Company turned down the claim on the ground that Malaria itself is a disease and not an accident. Hence the LRs filed the complaint before the District consumer forum, which was allowed in their favour. Hence the Insurance Company filed the appeal in state commission, which was also rejected and hence the matter came to national Commission.

Held :

1. The National Commission upheld both the judgments of lower foras and observed that the Policy does not define the Term "Accident". It relied upon the definition of Accident given in oxford dictionary, wherein it is defined as "An Accident is something that happens unexpectedly and not planned in advance and causes injury".

2. Thus no one can predict about the mosquito bite and it can happen anywhere and anytime, like an accident. It relied upon the earlier judgment of Matbarsingh V/s Oriental Insurance Co.) wherein it has been held that Snake-bite, dog-bite, frost-bite are also accidents. It rejected the argument of the National Insurance company that Malaria itself is a disease and not an accident.

A) I feel this is an important judgment. Few days back, at least a person in every family was suffering from Dengue / chikungunya and Malaria. Few patients were succumbed to death due to such diseases.This judgment may be helpful to such families. Obviously terms of Policy, if any, will play an important role.

B) This decision also underlines the importance of having Term Insurance like policies. Consult an expert in this field.

Compelling the Husband to separate from age-old parents by a wife amounts to Cruelty - Says Supreme Court

2016-12-24T03:27:00.002-08:00

Narendra vs. K. Meena- Supreme Court

The Supreme Court in Narendra vs. K. Meena has held that separating a Hindu son, who has been brought up and offered education by his parents, and the son has an ethical and legal duty to take care and maintain the age old parents, when they become old and when they have either no income or have a meagre income”.

The Supreme Court bench has not even once mentioned in its above verdict about the wife’s parents but solely revolved around husband’s parents.

Thus, according to Supreme Court of India, compelling a husband to get separated from his Parents tantamount to ’cruelty.

Repeated threats to commit suicide by a wife – it amounts to cruelty

Observing that repeated threats to commit suicide amounts to cruelty, the Supreme Court observed:

“No husband would ever be comfortable with or tolerate such an act by his wife and if the wife succeeds in committing suicide, then one can imagine how a poor husband would get entangled into the clutches of law, which would virtually ruin his sanity, peace of mind, career and probably his entire life.

The mere idea with regard to facing legal consequences would put a husband under tremendous stress. The thought itself is distressing.”

Compelling Separation from age-old Parents

Forcing separation from parents With regard to allegations of cruelty in wife forcing husband to get separated from his parents, the Bench observed: “In normal circumstances, a wife is expected to be with the family of the husband after the marriage. She becomes integral to and forms part of the family of the husband and normally without any justifiable strong reason; she would never insist that her husband should get separated from the family and live only with her….

If a wife makes an attempt to deviate from the normal practice and normal custom of the society, she must have some justifiable reason for that and in this case, we do not find any justifiable reason, except monetary consideration of the Respondent wife. In our opinion, normally, no husband would tolerate this and no son would like to be separated from his old parents and other family members, who are also dependent upon his income.”

Wild allegation of extra marital affairs

The Court also observed that to suffer an allegation pertaining to one’s character of having an extra-marital affair is quite torturous for any person – be it a husband or a wife. Restoring the judgment of Trial court and setting aside the High Court judgment, the Bench said: “The behaviour of the wife appears to be terrifying and horrible. One would find it difficult to live with such a person with tranquillity and peace of mind. Such torture would adversely affect the life of the husband.”

Can a legal practitioner be held liable for a legal opinion provided by him?

2012-10-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court has recently decided on the nature and extent of criminal liability that may be imposed on a lawyer who issues a legal opinion that is found to be erroneous. In what might be a matter of some relief to the legal fraternity, the court has set very high standards to be satisfied by the prosecution to charge a lawyer for the crime of conspiracy in defrauding a bank.

In Central Bureau of Investigation,Hyderabad v. K. Narayana Rao, the lawyer concerned, being a panel advocate representing a bank, delivered a series of legal opinions relating to the title to several properties. The bank lent monies on the strength of the legal opinions, which were found to be erroneous. The lending transaction was found to be part of a larger scheme by several persons to defraud the bank by inducing it to lend monies that caused wrongful loss to the bank. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), after investigation, filed charges against the lawyer. These charges were quashed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, against which the CBI appealed to the Supreme Court.

After considering the available evidence, the court concluded that there was insufficient material to conclude that the lawyer was acting as a conspirator so as to be charged for the offence to defraud the bank.
In deciding whether a legal practioner has acted against moral turpitude , background of each case has to be looked into and to assess whether such practioner had deliberately acted with ill-failth and malafide intention.

SALE OF PROPERTY THROUGH `GPA Sales') or Sale Agreement/General Power of Attorney/Will transfers WILL NOT BE REGARDED AS A VALID TRANSFER – SUPREME COURT

2012-10-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

SALE OF PROPERTY THROUGH `GPA Sales') or Sale Agreement/General Power of Attorney/Will transfers WILL NOT BE REGARDED AS A VALID TRANSFER – SUPREME COURT

Supreme Court in the case Suraj Lamp Industries Pvt. Ltd.... Vs... State of Haryana & Anr has held that had considered the ill - effects of what is known as General Power of Attorney Sales (for short `GPA Sales') or Sale Agreement/General Power of Attorney/Will transfers (for short `SA/GPA/WILL' transfers). Both the descriptions are misnomers as there cannot be a sale by execution of a power of attorney nor can there be a transfer by execution of an agreement of sale and a power of attorney and will. As noticed in the earlier order, these kinds of transactions were evolved to avoid prohibitions/conditions regarding certain transfers, to avoid payment of stamp duty and registration charges on deeds of conveyance, to avoid payment of capital gains on transfers, to invest unaccounted money (`black money') and to avoid payment of `unearned increases' due to Development Authorities on transfer.

Supreme Court viewed that SA/GPA/WILL transactions are not `transfers' or `sales' and that such transactions cannot be treated as completed transfers or conveyances. They can continue to be treated as existing agreement of sale. Nothing prevents affected parties from getting registered Deeds of Conveyance to complete their title. The said `SA/GPA/WILL transactions' may also be used to obtain specific performance or to defend possession under section 53A of TP Act. If they are entered before this day, they may be relied upon to apply for regularization of allotments/leases by Development Authorities

Strong Financial background of a company may not deter a court in refraining to pass an order of winding up at the request of a creditor

2012-09-26T14:53:00.003-07:00

HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT -Baader Beteiligungs GMBH v. Parsoli Motor Works (P.) Ltd.

Even if a company which has good and solid financial foundation and also has capacity to pay, cannot avoid its obligation to pay and be allowed to neglect its financial obligations.

The proceedings under section 434 of the Companies Act ,1956 is not legitimate means to enforce payment of debt and cannot be permitted to be converted into proceedings which are ostensibly for winding up, but actually are meant to enforce payment of debt therefore, the court would also not allow the petitioner-claimant to use the remedy as arm twisting method and pressure tactics or as a weapon or a means for enforcing recovery/payment of debt, which is bona fide and substantially and genuinely disputed.

In instant case, it is prima facie established, from the facts that the respondent appears to be unable, within the meaning contemplated under section 434(1), to pay its debts and it prima facie appears that it would be just and equitable to grant order of admission of petition and winding up. However, before making such an order, it would be appropriate to allow an opportunity to the respondent company to deposit the amount in question.

E-Mail and informal contracts are valid – SC held in “Trimex International FZE Limited, Dubai vs. Vedanta Aluminium Limited, India

2011-06-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

E-Mail and informal contracts are valid – SC held in “Trimex

 International FZE Limited, Dubai vs. Vedanta Aluminium Limited, India

The Indian Contract Act, 1872: ss.4, 7 – Concluded contract containing arbitration clause - Valid

The Hon’ble Supreme Court (SC) in a recent judgment in the case of “Trimex International FZE Limited, Dubai vs. Vedanta Aluminium Limited, India” in Re (2010) 3 SCC 1”. It was held that in the absence of signed agreement between the parties, it would be possible to infer from various documents duly approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange of emails, letter, telex, telegram and other means of communication. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has accepted the unconditional acceptance through emails and held the same to be a valid contract which satisfies the requirements of Section 4 and 7 of the Contract Act 1872 and further it satisfies Section 2(1)(b), 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. In the absence of a signed agreement inference can be from documents approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange emails, letters, telegrams which come within Section 10 and 2(e) of the Contract Act 1972.

As per Section 4: The communication of a proposal is complete when it becomes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made.

As per Section 7: In order to convert a proposal into a promise the acceptance must - be absolute and unqualified; and be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner, unless the proposal prescribes the manner in which it is to be accepted.

If respondent accepts the offer of petitioner following a very strict time schedule, he cannot escape from the obligations that flowed from such an action -

Arbitration clause can be inferred from various documents duly approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange of e-mails, letter, telex, telegrams and other means of tele-communication even in the absence of signed agreement -
If no inference can be drawn from the facts that the parties intended to be bound only when a formal agreement had been executed, the validity of the agreement would not be affected by its lack of formality -
On facts, the Commercial Offer carried no clause making the conclusion of the contract incumbent upon the Purchase Order -Therefore, the moment commercial offer was accepted by the respondent, the contract came into existence - Since the contract contained arbitration clause, petitioner made out case for appointment of arbitrator - Arbitration.

Petitioner's case was that on 15.10.2007, it submitted a commercial offer through e-mail for supply of Bauxite to the respondent. After exchange of several e-mails, respondent conveyed acceptance of offer through e-mail on 16.10.2007 confirming the supply of 5 shipments of Bauxite. Dispute arose and petitioner served arbitration notice on the respondent. Respondent rejected the arbitration notice stating that there was no concluded contract between them. Petitioner filed arbitration petition for appointment of arbitrator.

PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR USING DECEPTIVE AND PHONETICAL SIMILAR TRADE MARK

2011-06-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Through a landmark judgement , the Delhi High Court held in a trade mark infringement verdict that will help to hamper companies from employing deceptively and phonetically analogues trade mark, the Delhi HC recently granted damages to the tune of Rs.1 lakh as punitive damages to a subsidiary of Pfizer.

For the first time in trade mark litigation history that punitive damages have been granted by the Court against Omax Healthcare though no actual damages have been corroborated or established.

The Delhi High court also granted an injunction restraining Omax Healthcare from manufacturing, marketing and distributing cough syrup under the mark 'Orex' or any mark deceptively similar to that of the Pfizer's Corex.

Subsidiary of Omex had initiated a legal suit for injunction, production of accounts and damages against the Omax Healthcare for branding and marketing their cough syrup under the mark 'Orex' being deceptively and phonetically analogues to their registered mark being, 'Corex'.

As per trade mark law, any one employing a mark, either deceptively,visually, phonetically and analogues to that of a registered trademark thereby generating chaos in the minds of the customers, would end in damages for passing off and infringement.

Deceitful usage of misleading mark tantamounts to fake misrepresentation to the general public. No one is permitted to employ trade marks of opponents with an aim of arrogating their goodwill and standing in the market. Either enrichment upon the brand value created by others or colorable usage of marks is not allowable under the Act.

In spite of legal requirements, cough syrup being one of the most frequently sold syrups and is commonly available without prescription in the market.

People staying in villages and possessing average intelligence might not be vigilant enough to ensure small details and products sold with phonetic and visual resemblance may cause perplexity among customers. Such defective usage could adversely affect the reputation of the registered trademark owner as quality of all cough syrups is not similar.

On the basis of the trademark jurisprudence in India and on the above said reasoning and, the Delhi HC granted injunction against the manufacture, sale and distribution of cough syrup of the defendants under the name of 'Orex' or any other name/mark which is deceptively and phonetically analogous to the registered mark 'Corex'.

Industry Sources observed that, "This move would generate preclusion in the minds of users resorting to infringing or fraudulent usage registered marks of well-known manufacturers and averting puzzlement in the minds of customers."

Is LOI ( Letter of Intent ) IS A CONTRACT?

2011-06-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

Is LOI ( Letter of Intent ) IS A CONTRACT?

In Dresser Rand S.A. v. M/s. Bindal Agro Chemical Ltd. & Another, 2006 Vol. I Supreme Court Cases (SCC) page 751 at page 773 at paras 39 and 40, a two-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India emphasized that whether letters of intent rise to the level of being a contract hinges on the terms of the letter itself. It observed as under:- "It is now well settled that a letter of intent merely indicates a party’s intention to enter into a contract with the other party in future.

A letter of intent is not intended to bind either party ultimately to enter into any contract. This Court while considering the nature of a letter of intent observed thus in Rajasthan Coop. Dairy Federation Ltd. v. Maha Laxmi Mingrate Marketing Service (Plaintiff) Ltd. [1996 (10) SCC p.408, Para 7]

“The letter of intent merely expressed an intention to enter into a contract …. There was no binding legal relationship between the appellant and Respondent 1 at this stage and the appellant was entitled to look at the totality of circumstances in deciding whether to enter into a binding contract with Respondent 1 or not.”

It is no doubt true that a Letter of Intent may be construed as a letter of acceptance if such intention is evident from its terms. It is not uncommon in contracts involving detailed procedure, in order to save time, to issue a letter of intent communicating the acceptance of the offer and asking the contractor to start the work with a stipulation that the detailed contract would be drawn up later. If such a letter is issued to the contractor, though it may be termed as a Letter of Intent, it may amount to acceptance of the offer resulting in a concluded contract between the parties. But the question whether the letter of intent is merely an expression of intention to place an order in future or whether is a final acceptance of the offer thereby leading to a contract, is a matter that has to be decided with reference to the terms of the letter. Chitty on Contracts (Para 2.115 in Vol.1, 28th Edn.) observes that where parties to a transaction exchanged letters of intent, the terms of such letters may, of course, negative contractual intention; but, on the other hand, where the language does not negative contractual intention, it is open to the courts to hold that the parties are bound by the document; and the courts will, in particular, be inclined to do so where the parties have acted on the document for a long period of time or have expended considerable sums of money in reliance on it.”

The said proposition has been quoted with approval in the latest judgment of Supreme Court of India in “Great Offshore Ltd. Vs. Iranian Offshore Engineering & Construction Company” decided on 25.08.2008.

CAN A BANK OR CREDITOR INITIATE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST GUARANTOR INSTEAD OF INITIATING PRINCIPAL DEBTOR?

2011-06-17T00:57:00.000-07:00

The liability of the guarantor and principle debtors are co-extensive and not in alternative. 

The Supreme Court in United Bank of India Vs Satyawati Tondon and others  {(2010) 8 SCC 110; Decided on 26.07.2010} observed and held that the legal position that the liability of the surety/guarantor  is co-extensive with the principal debtor, unless it is otherwise  provided by the contract and that a creditor is not bound to, exhaust his  remedy against the principal debtor before suing the surety/guarantor.

In Bank of Bihar Ltd.  v. Damodar Prasad (1969) 1 SCR 620, SUPREME COURT CONSIDERED AND ANSWERED  IN AFFIRMATIVE the question whether the bank is entitled to recover its  dues from the surety and observed: 

"It is the duty of the surety to pay the decretal amount. On  such payment he will be subrogated to the rights of the creditor under  Section 140 of the Indian Contract Act, and he may then recover the  amount from the principal.

In State Bank of India v. M/s. Indexport Registered and others (1992) 3  SCC 159, SUPREME COURT HELD THAT THE DECREE-HOLDER BANK CAN EXECUTE THE  DECREE AGAINST THE GUARANTOR WITHOUT PROCEEDING AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL  BORROWER.

In Industrial Investment Bank of India Limited v. Biswanath Jhunjhunwala (2009) 9 SCC 478, this Court again held that the liability of the guarantor and principal debtor is co-extensive and not in alternative.

Can the payment of loan, advances etc to shareholders or to entities in which members are substantially interested be treated as "Deemed Dividend " under Section 2(22) of Income Tax Act

2011-03-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

section 2(22)(e) dealing with the payments or distributions by the company to its shareholders deemed to divided to the extent of accumulated profits of the company.

Whereas it can be applied to ‘Loans’ or ‘Advances’ but not to the transactions amount to Loan and Advances carried out in course of business as such. In the course of carrying on business transaction between a company and a stockholder, the company may be required to give advance in mutual interest. There is no legal bar in having such transaction.

What is to be ascertained is what is the purpose of such advance. If the amount is given as advance simplicitor or as such per se without any further obligation behind receiving such advances, may be treated is ‘deemed dividend’, but if it is otherwise, the amount given cannot be branded as ‘advances’ . Within the meaning of deemed dividend under section 2(22)(e).

The athe decision of HIGH COURT OF DELHI, In The case of: CIT v. Creative Dyeing & Printing Pvt. Ltd., Appeal No.: ITA No. 250/2009, Decided on: September 22, 2009 is corroborating the above.

Just as per clause (ii) of section 2(22)(e), dividend is not to include advance or loan made by a company in the ordinary course of business where the lending of money is a substantial part of the business of the company advance in the ordinary course of carrying on business cannot be considered as dividend within the meaning of section 2(22)(e).

By granting advance if the business purpose of the company is served and which is not the sum, which it otherwise would have distributed as dividend, cannot be brought within the deeming provision of treating such ‘Advance’ as deemed dividend ”

METTUR BEARDSELL LTD , Madras vs. REGIONAL LABOUR COMMISIONOR (CENTRAL)-ELIGIBILITY FOR GRATUITY

2011-02-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

In this case , the Madras High Court decided about the eligibility of employees who completed 4 year ,10 months and 18 days service for gratuity eligibility under section 2 (a), 2 (b), 2(c),2(e), and 2 A under the Payment of Gratuity Act ,1972.

Section 4 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 provides that an employee will entitled to gratuity on completion of continuous service of 5 years and while clarifying the 5 years complete service, Andhra Pradesh Hight Court in P. Raghuvulu and Sons v. Additional Labour Court , [1985] , had held that the minimum period for becoming eligible for payment of gratuity should not be less than 5 years since it should be complete 5 year service.

It was further clarified that the words or part in excess of six months' are only meant for the purposes of computation of gratuity for the subsequent year or years to first complete 5 years. It was also held that if an employee has worked for 4 years 11 months and 10 days, he will not be eligible for gratuity for want of completion of 5 years.

Further in a subsequent case, MADRAS HIGH COURT while relying upon the clarification by the SUPREME COURT pertaining to 240 working days in one year will be deemed to be continuous service of one year meaning thereby that there should not be complete 12 calendar months' service. MADRAS HIGH COURT has further held that an employee, who has put in service of 4 Years 10 Months and 18 Days in the 5 years, will be entitled to gratuity.

The gratuity act says continued services . In this case , there is continuity in service.

Further , as per SC , a year means 240 working days.

Since the employee who has completed 4 years 10 months and 18 days is eligible for gratuity as he has put in service of 5 years continuously as per SC explanation.

To , gratuity act is a social welfare act and one should have liberal interpretation offering benefits to employees who had put more than 4 years and but less than in 5 years but falls within 240 days in the 5th year.

SC applied liberal interpretation of the Act and had given benefits to the employee.

Hence , an employee who has completed 4 years 10 months and 18 days continuously without any break is eligible for Gratuity under the Act.

GRATUITY FOR CASUAL OR TEMPORARY WORKERS - INDIAN RARE EARTHS LTD , MADURAI HIGH COURT

2011-02-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

Please go through the following Madurai Bench of Madras High Court , where it has held recently that for the purpose of gratuity , even the period of casual or temporary work period will be calculated for the eligibility of gratuity and for the payment of gratuity to eligible workers. Workers who were employed as casual and then after wards retrenched then taken back and became permanent employment , then gratuity should be calculated even for such casual or temporary phases of employment. This is another example where Courts had liberal interpretation in social welfare laws.

The facts of the case is given below:

Once workmen became eligible for gratuity, then, the entire length of their service must be counted, including different spells under which they were employed by the same employer. Otherwise, it would defeat the very purpose of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has held.

In its order, the Court, while dismissing the writ petitions filed by Indian Rare Earths Ltd, Manavalakurichi, Kanyakumari District, a Government of India undertaking, challenging, inter alia, the common order dated September 23, 2005 of the Regional Labour Commissioner/Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, Chennai-600 006 in granting gratuity to workmen for the period when they (respondents) were employed on casual or temporary basis before their spell of employment as permanent workers, ruled that the entire length of service must be counted. Otherwise, it would defeat the very purpose of the enactment.

The issue

According to the petitioner, in early 1960s, when the unit was constructing the plant, the workers were employed for construction. They were later retrenched for want of work. Then, when mining operations got expanded, some workers, who were retrenched earlier, were taken back on casual or temporary rolls and subsequently made permanent. .At the time of superannuation (which were on different dates), the workers were paid terminal benefits, including gratuity. Long after their settlement of gratuity by management, the workers staked their claim for further gratuity for their first spell of employment. They moved the Controlling Authority (Assistant Labour Commissioner, Central). When the Authority held in workers' favour, the Company had come forward with the writ petitions.

Master-servant ties

The petitioner contended that the service rendered by the workers during the first spell of employment ended due to retrenchment. Their subsequent re-employment, on direct recruitment, could not be tagged on because during the interregnum period, there was no master-servant relationship that existed.

Mr Justice K. Chandru, who heard the petitions, said that if the contention of the petitioners was accepted, then it was easy for the employer to employ them in different spells and deny gratuity to them in spite of the fact that they might have put in sufficient length of service. The term ‘continuous service' under Section 25B of the Industrial Disputes Act was more or less similar to the definition under Section 2-A of the Gratuity Act. Hence, the objection of the petitioner on the findings of the Appellate Authority and Controlling Authority had to be rejected. Also, the question of delay would not arise in moving the authority.

The Judge also ruled that 3 other writ petitions of workers, M. Vairamuthu, V. Ponnaiah and N. Harikrishnan, could not be rejected as similarly placed persons were getting benefits.

Criminal Prosecution can be Initiated for wrong disclosure in Balance Sheet

2011-02-09T02:29:00.000-08:00

SANJAY SURI V. STATE [2010] 157 COMP CAS 10 (DEL) V.K.Jain, J [Decided on 29-1-2010]
Sections 209(6) and 217(1) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with sections 468, 469(1)(b) and 482 of the Cr.P.C –

Failure by company to give proper disclosure in balance-sheet regarding collateral security and activities relating to export.

Prosecution initiated by ROC –
1. There was a contravention of section 212 (1) as the company had acquired in excess of 90% of shareholding .

2.No proper disclosure was made in the balance sheet regarding the collateral security thereby its bank account was attached due to a court order and no contingent liability was disclosed towards this.

3.Its director report failed to disclose activities relating to exports , action initiated to enhance the exports , expansion of new export markets .

The defendants argued that the complaint was barred by limitation. The ROC cannot be regarded as " person of aggrieved " under section 469 (1) (b) of the Criminal Procedure , 1973.

Trial Court took cognizance of the offence-summons issued against the directors – Whether criminal proceedings can be quashed- It was held by the Court as No as the petitioners were the persons obliged to make sure compliance of the appropriate provisions of the Act and the officers in default at the appropriate time.

VRS CAN BE REFUSED IF THE EMPLOYEE IS EFFICIENT AND CABABLE !!!

2011-02-08T04:40:00.000-08:00

The management of a bank can deny the request for voluntary retirement if it considers the officer very efficient and wants to keep him. In this case decided by the SC last week, Indian Overseas Bank vs Tribhuvan Nath, the officer joined as a clerk but due to exceptional merit and dedication to the bank, he was promoted fast and posted abroad in managerial posts. However, he applied for voluntary retirement. The bank rejected his application. He challenged the action in the Allahabad high court. It held the bank’s decision arbitrary and even mala fide .

The bank appealed to the SC. It upheld the discretion of the bank in accepting or rejecting the application according to the scheme. The bank can shed staff with inferior abilities, while it can retain officers of superior merit. No organisation would like to lose its best people, the SC said while quashing the high court decision. This officer retired before the judgment.

Thus , drafters should keep in mind in the VRS agreement to include a clause

The VRS cannot be opt by all the eligible employees. If bank thinks a particular employee as an efficient and capable , bank may disregard his request for VRS.

WHEN GIFT TAKES EFFECT?

2011-01-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

In view of Venkat Subba Srinivas v. Subba Rama', AIR 1928 PC 86 (A) it has been held that a gift would be a valid gift if the gift has been accepted, even though the document may not have been registered at the time of the execution.

In the above case the court has observed that Section 47 of Registration Act lays down that a registered document shall operate from the time 'from which it would have commenced to operate if no registration thereof had been required or made, and not from the time of its registration. The deed of gift was executed on 20th February 1946, and was registered on 28th March 1946. It, therefore, became operative on 20th February 1946.

Gift takes effect from the date of execution and not from the date of registration.

E-Mail and informal contracts are valid – SC held in “Trimex International FZE Limited, Dubai vs. Vedanta Aluminium Limited, India

2011-01-28T04:32:00.000-08:00

The Hon’ble Supreme Court (SC) in a recent judgment in the case of “Trimex International FZE Limited, Dubai vs. Vedanta Aluminium Limited, India” in Re (2010) 3 SCC 1”. It was held that in the absence of signed agreement between the parties, it would be possible to infer from various documents duly approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange of emails, letter, telex, telegram and other means of communication.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court has accepted the unconditional acceptance through emails and held the same to be a valid contract which satisfies the requirements of Section 4 and 7 of the Contract Act 1872 and further it satisfies Section 2(1)(b), 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. In the absence of a signed agreement inference can be from documents approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange emails, letters, telegrams which come within Section 10 and 2(e) of the Contract Act 1972.

As per Section 4: The communication of a proposal is complete when it becomes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made.

As per Section 7: In order to convert a proposal into a promise the acceptance must - be absolute and unqualified; and be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner, unless the proposal prescribes the manner in which it is to be accepted.
If respondent accepts the offer of petitioner following a very strict time schedule, he cannot escape from the obligations that flowed from such an action -

Arbitration clause can be inferred from various documents duly approved and signed by the parties in the form of exchange of e-mails, letter, telex, telegrams and other means of tele-communication even in the absence of signed agreement -
If no inference can be drawn from the facts that the parties intended to be bound only when a formal agreement had been executed, the validity of the agreement would not be affected by its lack of formality -
On facts, the Commercial Offer carried no clause making the conclusion of the contract incumbent upon the Purchase Order -Therefore, the moment commercial offer was accepted by the respondent, the contract came into existence - Since the contract contained arbitration clause, petitioner made out case for appointment of arbitrator - Arbitration.

Every director not liable in cheque dishonor case -Supreme Court held in National Small Industries Corporation vs Harmeet Singh

2011-01-28T04:13:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court reiterated that every director connected with a company could not be held liable in a case of cheque which was dishonored for want of sufficient funds in the bank. Only those who were in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business of the company at the time of the offense under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act will be liable for criminal action, the court said in the case, National Small Industries Corporation vs Harmeet Singh. A mere bald statement that a particular director among many was responsible for the conduct of the business would not be sufficient to clamp vicarious liability on him.