Spectrum Under IBC, CERC’s Market Coupling, Jail to Scribe for Defamation, and More

“Judicial leadership does not suffer because judges are imperfect; it suffers when we pretend they are not”

-CJI Surya Kant while delivering the key note address at the biennial meeting of the Commonwealth Judicial Educators

Ten Years Since its Notification, IBC Jurisprudence Continues to Grow

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on spectrum rights for telecom companies is yet another clarification from the country’s top court on the expanding jurisprudence of the country’s insolvency law regime.

The court has held that the spectrum allotted to telecom companies remains a material resource of the nation. The spectrum allotted to the companies, simply because it can be used, leases etc., does not become a corporate asset. The court answered a crucial and pertinent legal question which arose at the back of telecom companies going into insolvency shortly after or during their litigation over AGR dues.

When TSP companies like Aircel andReliance Communication went into insolvency, their lenders sought to restructure the spectrum rights and maximise the bids while the government through the department of telecommunication opposed this venture saying that spectrum is merely auctioned and licensed to the companies, the airwaves don’t become their assets. In the absence of any legal precedent on the issue, the Supreme Court had to step in to develop the jurisprudence.

This important ruling not only crystallises the government’s position but also paves the way for future cases of financing for telecom companies. More importantly, the ruling also adds another feather of clarification to the IBC that holding that the law cannot be allowed to make inroads in the telecom sector which is governed by its own set of regulations. This kind of intersection was not envisioned by the lawmakers and cannot be allowed now.  

Key Rulings:

• The Supreme Court has held that telecom spectrum allocated to a telecom service provider is a material resource of the nation and not an asset under the books of accounts of the company, it cannot be restructured or transferred under the insolvency proceedings

Courts: 

• Supreme Court asks FSSAI to consider ordering front of package warning labels for foods high in sugar and salt levels for the benefit of consumers

• Bombay High Court orders protection from arrest for Sunil Biyani, a non-executive director of Future Group, in relation to a GST scam case

• The Supreme Courtallows pharmaceutical company ER Squibb and Sons to map the anti-cancer drug by Zydus Lifesciences in a patent infringement case. The mapping exercises allows comparison of the products to ascertain if there is infringement of patent

• Delhi High Court asks the central government to take a decision within six months on whether adult diapers can be exempt from GST

• A Gujarat court convicts journalist Ravi Nair for writing articles and tweets against Adani group. Nair is punished with a penalty and a sentence of one year

• Supreme Court stays the Telangana government’s decision to re-allocate land to Patanjali Foods

Quasi Courts: 

• Competition commission of India imposes a fine of ₹273.8 million on Intel for abuse of dominance in PC microprocessor warranty policy market

• APTEL dismisses IEX’s petition against CERC’s market coupling order

Others:

• The office of chief justice of India received as many as 8,630 complaints against sitting judges in the last ten years, the Law Ministry told the Lok Sabha

• Central government amends IT rules to bring AI-generated content within its fold

The Big Listings:

• Feb 23: Supreme Court to hear WhatsApp, Meta and CCI appeals in data sharing policy case 

• Feb 25: Securities Appellate Tribunal to hear appeal by Jane Street challenging SEBI’s move to allegedly refuse access to important documents to the firm in the case against it

• Feb 25: Supreme Court to hear a review petition filed by Jane Street on the legal question of protection of privileged communication under the new criminal code BNSS

• Mar 19: Delhi High Court to hear Apple Inc.’s plea against India’s competition law’s provisions on global turnover-based penalties on MNC

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

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

Legal Moves: 

• Thanya Nathan becomes the first visually challenged person to serve as a judge in Kerala

• Former district judge Deep Chandra Joshi made Acting President of NCLT

• Advocate M Balaji appointed Additional Judge at the Andhra Pradesh High Court

• Varun Prabhakar returns to Devyani International as General Counsel

• Gaurav Ajmani of Amazon joins Snapchat as Assistant General Counsel & CCO

• Siddharth Tiwary leaves Delhivery to join Philips as Senior Legal Counsel

• Kunal Vajani leaves Fox & Mandal as its managing partner to start an independent practice

• Abhijeet Shinde made Senior General Counsel of Anant Ambani’s office at Reliance Industries

• Prakash Kakkad made Chief Legal Officer and group general counsel at Unilever

• Umang Pathak joins Trilegal as Senior Specialist of Climate Change, ESG and Regulatory dispute

• Amit Anand leaves Commonwealth Bank to join Adobe as Director Legal