JSW-BPSL, Nayara-Microsoft, New Bench for Bombay HC, and More

“Courts are online, legal records are digitised. But the digital divide has become the new face of inequality. Quality legal aid has not trickled down to the marginalised… In the digital age, justice undelivered due to inaccessibility or exclusion is worse because it breeds alienation… Justice is justice only if it is accessible and visible and rooted in human dignity.”

-Justice Surya Kant speaking at the Justice RC Lahoti Memorial Lecture

JSW-Bhushan Power saga not just over yet… expectedly so
JSW Steel and banks have much to breathe a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court decided to recall its previous contentious verdict that said Bhushan Power and Steel should be liquidated. A bench headed by the chief justice of India BR Gavai called this a “fit case” for recalling of the judgment.

The breather for JSW came in an open hearing that the top court granted for the batch of review petitions filed by multiple stakeholders, all of whom wanted the liquidation order to be reviewed, in the BPSL insolvency case. Typically a review petition is heard on very limited grounds of apparent errors. After deliberating in the chamber, the judges concluded that the court needed to give the case an open court hearing after all.

The open court hearing was expected considering that the case involved huge financial stakes and looming questions on the country’s insolvency regime. It was argued that the bench that passed the judgment in question considered aspects that were not even pressed or argued.

Interestingly, the chief justice observed that 25,000 workers of a now healthy company cannot be put through injustice in this fashion while recalling the order. This essentially means now that the appeals that challenged the JSW steel’s resolution plan for BPSL will be heard afresh, years after many turbulent developments and at a time that JSW has transformed BPSL into a productive, healthy unit.

At this point in time, JSW has a lot to be relieved for given that the odds now look a lot in its favour for the direction in which the case ultimately goes.  

The Week That Was

Key Rulings

• Supreme Court recalls its previous order that directed Bhushan Power and Steel to be liquidated while quashing JSW Steel’s resolution plan for it years after completion of the acquisition
• Special NIA court in Mumbai acquitted seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts including BJP MP Pragya Thakur and Col Purohit
• A trial court in Bengaluru convicts and sentences Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna to life imprisonment in case of repeated rape and video recording of the assault 

Courts 

• Nayara Energy withdraws its lawsuit against Microsoft after the tech company restores services for the Rosneft backed company
  Karnataka High Court reserves its order in X’s plea against the Indian government’s Sahyog Portal
• No more media gag order on reporting by YouTube channel on its reportage of Dharamsthala mass burial case, the Karnataka High Court says
• Supreme Courts seeks action plan from centre and Himachal Pradesh state government to curb and check environmental degradation in the Himalayan state
• Supreme Court asks Power ministry to hold meeting with various key stakeholder to form a strategy to curb emissions from coal-based thermal power plants in an order passed in July 

  Quasi Courts

• Competition commission of India rejects complaint of cartelisation against Adani, RP-Sanjiv Goenka group and Vedanta regarding coal-block auction
• NCLT Ahmedabad admits BluSmart into insolvency over 128 million rupees default
  

Others

• Circuit Bench of Bombay High Court at Kolhapur notified and to begin functioning
  on August 18
• Aequitas Law Partners set up by three former IC Universal Legal lawyers 

The Big Listings:
Aug 4: NCLAT to hear pleas concerning Vedanta demerger
Aug 7: Supreme Court to hear JSW-BPSL case after allowing review of the previous ruling
Aug 20: NCLT in Ahmedabad to hear petition for Vedanta’s demerge
Aug 20: Supreme Court to hear Flipkart’s appeal against a high court which affirmed CCI probe into the company
* The dates of hearing can change and a concrete list is prepared just a day before

Legal Moves: 

• Central government clears appointment of:
  Additional judge Biswadeep Bhattacharjee as permanent judge at the Meghalaya High Court
  Advocate Ajit Kumar as judge at the Patna High Court
  Advocate Tuhin Kumar Gadela as judge at the Andhra Pradesh High Court
  Ten judicial officers as judges at the Punjab & Haryana High Court
• Five inducted as partners at Luthra and Luthra
• Harshita Srivastava leaves NDA Private Equity to join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas 
• Akash Choubey steps down as Partner at Khaitan & Co. to continue as a consultant
• Vinit Patwari leaves Trilegal to join CMS INDUSLAW as partner
• Menath Sreedharan Pradeep appointed as Senior VP and Legal Head at Aditya Birla’s Essel Mining