“The common man today under our Constitution, and if I may say so, the heart of our Constitution, the heart of our democracy, which is the right to vote, is in great peril.”

-Retired Supreme Court Judge Rohinton Nariman in a speech

Question on Pharma Pricing Concerns Investors
In a development that sent shock waves across pharma stocks, the Supreme Court has questioned drug pricing in India and the functioning of private hospitals as an industry.

The market reaction was sharply negative, and reflects a direct concern - if the government ultimately acts on the Supreme Court's suggestion of a uniform 16% margin, hospitals could lose a potentially significant source of pharmacy-related revenue. The sharper fall in hospital stocks, compared with pharma companies, also suggests investors viewed the immediate regulatory risk as falling more heavily on hospital margins and their in-house pharmacy businesses than on drug manufacturers. The fact that the court has only asked the Centre to examine the issue means the sell-off is, for now, a repricing of regulatory risk rather than a response to an actual policy change.

Courts: 

• Madras High Court refuses to recall its order that directs disclosure of microplastics in packaged water, sugar and salt
• Karnataka High Court rejects JSW Steel’s challenge to ED’s attachment of property orders
• Delhi High Court seeks Centre’s response on PIL against Aadhaar authentication for domestic LPG cylinders
• Delhi High Court issues notice to cab aggregator apps Uber, Ola and Rapido on PIL for women safety in cabs
• Ernst & Young moves Supreme Court over tax imposed on employees seconded from the US into India
• Supreme Court questions functioning of private hospitals as industries and excessive pricing of life saving drugs, questions 10 times markup of cancer drug as “carnage”
• Delhi High Court sets aside FSSAI order asking Red Bull to drop “energy drink” label from its product
• Supreme Court dismisses PIL challenging government decision to impose MDR on UPI transactions
• Supreme Court takes suo moto cognizance of rising rape cases in Delhi, initiates case
• Supreme Court reserves its judgment in the case concerning front of pack labelling of packaged food products

Quasi Courts:

• IIFCL moves NCLT against Anil Ambani’s Mumbai Metro over 17.45 billion rupees dues

The Big Listings:

• Oct 5: Securities Appellate Tribunal to continue hearing appeal by Jane Street challenging SEBI’s move to allegedly refuse access to important documents to the firm in the case against it
• Oct 22: Bombay High Court to hear plea against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

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

Legal Moves:

• Anamika Ray leaves Trilegal to join Anagram Partners
• Disha Chandrachud joins Addleshaw Goddard as managing associate
• Aniket Gautam joins Water & Shark as Senior Managing Partner
• Shalinee Kulshreshtha joins IndiGo as General Counsel
• Vineet Chaudhary joins Althera Labs as General Counsel