Insights & Resources

This essay examines where preventive law has overreached: in compliance frameworks divorced from the actual causes of contraventions, in the systematic reversal of the burden of proof, and most acutely, in the routine deployment of provisional attachment as a pre-adjudicatory punishment. The law designed to address the fear of harm has itself become an object of fear.

The Supreme Court, in Shivappa Reddy v. S. Srinivasan, has reaffirmed that partners retiring from a firm must strictly comply with statutory requirements under the Partnership Act to escape liability under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The Court set aside a High Court order quashing proceedings and emphasised that non-compliance with Section 72 obligations leaves retired partners exposed to criminal liability for dishonoured cheques.

In P. Nallammal v. State, the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on whether a public servant’s spouse can be convicted for abetting the accumulation of disproportionate assets. While both judges upheld asset attachment and procedural findings, they diverged sharply on the standards required to prove abetment under Section 109 IPC read with the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

India’s evolving crypto regulations require startups to navigate a complex matrix of tax law, AML norms, data privacy obligations, and consumer protection rules. This insight distils the key legal imperatives—FIU-IND registration, 30% taxation, CERT-In incident reporting, and DPDP compliance—into a strategic roadmap for Web3 founders building in India's regulated VDA ecosystem.

The RBI has released the Draft Co-Lending Arrangements Directions, 2025, proposing a unified, market-enabling framework for regulated entities. The draft aims to streamline risk-sharing, pricing, and borrower protections across digital and traditional lending partnerships while replacing fragmented earlier guidelines. This explainer highlights key provisions, compliance expectations, and systemic implications.

The RBI has issued draft directions to regulate Non-Fund Based Credit Facilities such as guarantees, letters of credit, and partial credit enhancements. This write-up provides a detailed overview of the framework, its applicability to banks and NBFCs, the proposed exposure caps, and disclosure requirements, while highlighting the shift towards electronic guarantees and risk-based credit appraisals.

The RBI has released its draft 2025 Directions on lending against gold collateral, proposing a unified, principle-based framework for all regulated entities. These Directions aim to streamline prudential norms, standardise conduct practices, and strengthen consumer protection, while ensuring fair treatment and systemic stability in gold-backed credit markets.

the US Supreme Court has overruled the four-decade-old Chevron doctrine, reasserting that courts—not agencies—hold the ultimate authority to interpret ambiguous statutes. This decision reshapes administrative law, restoring judicial independence under Article III of the US Constitution and carrying persuasive relevance for jurisdictions like India that value a strict separation of powers.

SEBI’s 2025 amendments to the LODR Regulations introduce a new governance framework for High-Value Debt Listed Entities (HVDLEs) with ₹1,000 crore+ in listed NCDs. These norms align debt entities with equity governance standards, mandating board independence, committee oversight, and compliance timelines. This post unpacks key obligations, implications, and what debt-heavy issuers must do to remain compliant.

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s grant of anticipatory bail to accused persons declared proclaimed offenders for evading summons in a major economic fraud. Reaffirming that anticipatory bail is a discretionary relief, the Court held that wilful evasion of judicial process disentitles accused persons from seeking such protection, especially in grave financial crimes involving public interest.