Article
Rent/lease agreements – Enforceability of lock-in period
Typically, parties to a rent/lease agreement insert a lock-in period to ensure that either party is unable to terminate the agreement before the stipulated period. Such agreements also incorporate a provision for liquidated damages in the form of rent for the remainder of the lock-in period. The article in this issue of Corporate Amicus discusses the jurisprudence on ‘liquidated damages’ in India and its effect on the lock-in-period. The authors (Archit Gupta and Anusha Mohapatra) in this regard highlight that if the parties to a contract seek to stipulate liquidated damages, adequate care must be taken to ensure that the contract only stipulates a genuine pre-estimate of loss. According to them, the parties may have to spend a considerable amount of time on this exercise; however, this will lower the threshold of evidence in case of breach of contract.
Notifications and Circulars
- Special Non-Resident Rupee Account – Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2016 amended
- Exporters permitted to maintain foreign currency accounts outside India – Foreign Exchange Management (Foreign Currency Accounts by a person resident in India) Regulations, 2015 amended
- Investments by persons resident outside India simplified – Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019 amended
- Master Direction on Credit Information Reporting, 2025 issued
- Master Direction on Non-Resident Investment in Debt Instruments, 2025 issued
- Compliance deadline for filing under Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 extended
- Transfer and transmission of shareholdings among immediate relatives clarified
- Timeline for ESG rating review post BRSR publication relaxed
- SEBI allows subscription to non-convertible securities during trading window closure
Ratio decidendi
- Financial lease involving transfer of ownership and interest for default falls within the definition of ‘financial debt’ under IBC Section 5(8)(d) – NCLT, New Delhi
- Insolvency application under IBC Section 7 is maintainable for unpaid dues even after the sale of pledged shares – NCLAT, New Delhi
- Arbitration notice under Section 21 by one of the parties to the agreement is sufficient compliance with the statutory provisions – Punjab & Haryana High Court
- Challenge to arbitral awards – 30-day condonable period under Arbitration Section 34(3) cannot be extended by Section 4 of Limitation Act when it expires during court holidays – Supreme Court
- Judicial authorities to exercise restraint when interfering in matters governed under Part I of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – Supreme Court
- Specific relief – Doctrine of merger ensures that appellate court’s decree supersedes the trial court’s decree – Supreme Court
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- CII bats for all government approvals through a national single window
- Disclosure on social media hours before conveying to investors through stock exchanges is a lapse
