Courts Financial News

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on shielding the identities of officers who spot wilful defaulters and build cases against errant borrowers, said bankers aware of the development. A recent High Court order has directed banks to name the employees on committees identifying a borrower as a wilful defaulter. The division bench order about Milind Patel, director of IFIN versus Union Bank of India, also asked the bank to provide the petitioner full access to the relevant documents and material on record. This is yet another contentious issue between lenders and the borrower. The Union Bank had argued that it is not obliged to provide evidence to the borrower as per the RBI guidelines. Lenders will seek RBI's guidance on this issue, too, the bankers cited above said. The bank management lobby, the Indian Banks Association (IBA), will soon seek advice on ways to address this issue.

Bombay High Court (HC) has refused to grant urgent relief to Wadia Group, which sought to restrain Bank of Baroda from invoking a corporate guarantee of ₹500 crore given by one of its group companies at the instance of Go First Airlines. Nowrosjee Wadia & Sons Ltd (NWS) had approached the court to «temporarily injunct and restrain» Bank of Baroda from making the demand. Wadia Group has also sought an injunction against the lender from proceeding in accordance with law pursuant to such invocation, mainly on the grounds that the corporate guarantee had lapsed as the condition of tie-up of ₹2,835 crore was attained by the borrower in January 2020.

Several Quebec Tim Hortons franchisees are taking the brand’s owner to court, blaming what they describe as unreasonable constraints in the company’s licensing agreements for lower-than-expected profits.In a lawsuit filed in Quebec Superior Court on Thursday, 16 companies with Tim Hortons franchise licences allege the TDL Group Corp.’s contracts “place it in a position of absolute dominance” over their combined 44 restaurants.“Through these Tim Hortons licence agreements … TDL controls every essential lever involved in the running of a restaurant,” from deals with suppliers to equipment,” the plaintiffs allege in their application.TDL also sets prices for both menu items and the ingredients restaurants need to make them, the lawsuit contends.Yet TDL’s policy of fixing prices didn’t adapt to the market, the franchisees assert. They argue the franchisor’s rules leave them “no room for maneuver” and impose costs they are unable to match in sales.

PM Modi said, "Tell me what have we done that we will face a setback? I am sure who are happy about it [releasing details of electoral bonds] today and feeling proud over it are going to repent." PM Modi questioned if any agency could share details of expenditures made during the election before 2014. "I want to ask, there much expenditure in elections before 2014. Which is the agency which can inform - from where the money came, where it was spent and who spent," he said.

Mint's editor-in-chief Ravi Krishnan at the Mint India Investment Summit 2024. In a fireside chat, Sitharaman also said that though the Centre-state relationship has been highly politicised recently, it hasn't deteriorated. The finance minister emphasised that states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal would have to become the engine of India’s growth.

money trail of the alleged Rs 45 crore kickbacks generated from the Delhi excise policy «scam» and used for the 2022 Goa election campaign by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as claimed by the Enforcement Directorate, has also been «substantiated» by the CBI and the Income-Tax department in their separate investigations, according to documents filed in court. A wide network of Hawala operators and 'Angadiyas' are also being investigated by the ED in this case where it recently arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and claimed he and his political outfit are liable to be prosecuted in the alleged laundering of these funds. Statements of five 'Angadiya' firm operators have also been recorded by the ED to establish the «money trail» of this alleged Rs 45 crore bribe amount.

INDIA bloc's rally on March 31, Opposition parties called upon the Election Commission guarantee fairness in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The leaders emphasised that they will fight what they termed as «undemocratic obstacles» created by the BJP. During the 'Loktantra Bachao Rally' held at Delhi's Ramlila ground, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra set down five demands by the alliance, underlining that the EC should ensure a level playing field for all parties in Lok Sabha elections. The opposition leader stressed that the Election Commission must intervene to halt the actions of agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and the Income Tax department against opposition figures, which she said will impact the election process in a negative way. Gandhi also demanded the immediate release of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, has submitted a motion to dismiss all three charges against him, claiming that he did not operate a money laundering business and did not violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on April 1 a Gyanvapi mosque management committee's plea against an Allahabad High Court decision upholding a lower court's order allowing Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the plea of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the affairs of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, challenging the HC's February 26 decision. The high court had dismissed the committee's plea in which it had challenged the district court's January 31 order allowing Hindus to offer prayers in the cellar. While dismissing the plea of the mosque committee on February 26, the high court had observed that the Uttar Pradesh government's 1993 decision of stopping worship rituals inside the "Vyas Tehkhana" — located at the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi — was «illegal».

Congress on Sunday accused the Modi government of violating the Constitution by resorting to «confrontational federalism». The Congress also accused the prime minister of resorting to fiscal centralisation, obstruction of state programs, destabilising state governments, misusing governors and subverting the rights of States. In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said as the INDIA Janbandhan's rally at Ramlila Maidan gets underway, it is necessary to recall how the PM is «violating», in letter and spirit, Article 1 of the Constitution of India that states «India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.» He said the prime minister started off his innings in May 2014 talking big about cooperative federalism.

Congress, sources in the party said it has received fresh notices from the Income Tax department, raising a tax demand of Rs 1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17. With this latest notice, the Income Tax department has raised a total demand of Rs 3,567 crore from the Congress. According to sources, the fresh tax notices relate to 2014-15 (Rs 663 crore), 2015-16 (around Rs 664 crore) and 2016-17 (around Rs 417 crore). The authorities have ended the tax exemption available to political parties and have taxed the party for the entire collections, they added. The Congress has also been taxed for «third-party entries» made in diaries seized from some of its leaders by probe agencies during raids, the sources said.

Congress on Sunday accused the Modi government of indulging in "statistical jugglery" over the unemployment issue, and said that the truth remains that the unemployment rate today is the highest it has been in the last four decades. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said a Union Minister recently derided the ILO's Employment Report as a symptom of India's «slave mentality.» «Instead, he made the absurd claim of having added 52 million new formal jobs between FY20 and FY23 based on EPFO, ESI, and National Pension Scheme database,» he said. Ramesh's remarks were a reference to the reported comments by Union minister Anurag Thakur at a media conclave last week when he had said that India has been relying on international rating agencies for years, but it should now go by the data from domestic ones which are now equally equipped.

₹1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17, the party said. With this, the total notice for assessment years 1994-95 and 2017-18 to 2020-21 now stands at ₹3,567 crore. The fresh notices were issued on Friday evening after the Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being indulged in tax terrorism to financially cripple opposition parties ahead of Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in seven phases beginning from April 19.

immigration fee hikes set to take effect from April 1. The plaintiffs, including ITServe Alliance, the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), and a Canadian EB-5 investor, had sought to delay the imposition of the revised fees until the lawsuit is resolved. As a result, applicants, including American employers, will now be required to bear the increased visa and immigration fees, which span a broad range of applications. However, the legal proceedings are ongoing. According to a TOI report, the lawsuit, initiated by ITServe Alliance and AIIA, challenges the substantial fee hikes in EB-5 visa fees and the additional asylum fee for employers hiring H-1B workers, which were introduced without proper rule-making procedures. AIIA remains optimistic about the lawsuit's prospects, noting that the court did not oppose their main argument and believes they have a strong chance of success.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai has shed light on India's wavering approach to the Katchatheevu island dispute with Sri Lanka. The decision to cede Katchatheevu has been a source of contention in Tamil Nadu, particularly for fishermen who continue to face arrest by Sri Lankan authorities. As the Lok Sabha elections near, the documents are likely to reignite the debate surrounding the island's ownership and the impact on Indian fishermen. According to a TOI report, the documents show that Sri Lanka is making up for its small size by pursuing the 1.9 square kilometer of territory around 20 km from the Indian beach with tenacity. This is based on claims that New Delhi disputed for decades before finally giving in to. Soon after independence, Ceylon, then known as Sri Lanka, asserted that the Indian Navy, then known as the Royal Indian Navy, could not hold exercises on the island without its consent. The island hosted an exercise by the Ceylon Air Force in October of 1955.

Supreme Court Judge BV Nagarathna has cautioned against instances of governors sitting indefinitely on bills passed by elected legislatures, referring to the case involving the Punjab Governor. In her keynote address at the inaugural session of the fifth edition of Courts and the Constitution Conference, held at the NALSAR University of Law here on Saturday, Justice Nagarathna spoke about the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly case as another instance of gubernatorial overreach, where the governor lacked sufficient material to declare the floor test. «This is not a healthy trend under the Constitution to bring the actions or omissions of the Governor of a state for consideration before constitutional courts,» she said. «I think I must appeal that the office of a governor, though it is called a gubernatorial post, the governor's post is a serious constitutional post, the governors must discharge their duties under the constitution in accordance with the Constitution so that this kind of litigation before the law courts is reduced,» Justice Nagarathna added.

Despite identity proofs and proper documents, like a letter from a bank or micro-lending firm, to back the legitimacy of their cargo, the cash could be confiscated. The money, once proved genuine, would be released only later, at the intervention of the court or a senior government official. No one wants to deal with such harassment — neither the financial institutions nor their field agents and ‘business correspondents’ (BC) who collect cash from villagers paying loan EMIs. Sometimes, though, the arrangement may not be all that kosher if dodgy agents choose to carry unaccounted cash or act as couriers of political parties while on official duty.

CBI filed closure report in Air India scam case, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to former PM Manmohan Singh and to the country. The Congress leader alleged that the CBI closed the case because Nationalist Congress Party (NCP — Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel joined hands with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. «In 2014, during the Air India scam, PM Modi was going everywhere with the CAG report. Yesterday, the CBI closed that case because the then minister (Praful Patel) joined the BJP and went into BJP's washing machine. PM Modi should apologise to Manmohan Singh, he should apologise to the country,» Jairam Ramesh said.

Digital asset bank Custodia Bank has been denied a U.S. Federal Reserve master account by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming. 

Patna High Court in a case. Also Read: Attention all cosmic fans! Don't miss these 4 must-sees celestials in April, other than solar eclipse A single-judge bench of Justice Bibek Chaudhuri observed that the use of filthy language doesn't amount to ‘cruelty’ under Section 498A (cruelty towards wife by husband or his relatives) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The bench was hearing a petition filed by Shahdeo Gupta and his son Naresh Kumar Gupta, residents of Jharkhand's Bokaro.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned Kailash Gahlot, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi's transport minister, in connection with the state's liquor policy case. People in the know said Gahlot was part of the group of ministers that gave directions to Delhi's excise department to restructure the state's excise policy. People in the know said Gahlot was questioned about his connection with Vijay Nair, AAP's then communication-in-charge and a co-accused in the case.