1. Haryana introduces single annual return form for all labour laws
The Government of Haryana, in a move to help establishments across the state, has introduced a single annual return form (“Form”) that can be filled in for all labour laws regulated by the state government. The Form can be found here and can be used for making an annual return for the following legislations:
- The Punjab Shops and Establishment Act, 1958 (this is the shops and establishment act that is applicable in Haryana);
- The Factories Act, 1948;
- The Contract Labour (Regulation and Conditions of services) Act, 1970;
- Building and Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Act, 1996;
- Building and Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996;
- Inter-State Migrant Workmen (RE & CS) Act, 1979;
- The Payment of Wages Act, 1936;
- The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947;
- The Minimum Wages Act, 1948;
- The Employee State Insurance Act. 1948;
- The Maternity Benefits Act, 1961;
- The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and
- The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.
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- The Government of India had introduced a similar scheme for filing and maintaining registers as required under various labour legislations through a few unified forms through the Ease of Compliance to Maintain Registers under various Labour Laws Rules, 2017. This notification issued by the the Government of Haryana follows the intent behind the above-mentioned notification. By making one unified form, Haryana has ensured that the compliance burden on establishments in Haryana will reduce. This is a welcome move considering that one of the biggest labour law compliance issues is that establishments are required to file multiple annual returns under each labour legislation. This will surely go a long way in improving the ease of doing business in the state of Haryana.
2. Twitter clamps down on political ads. Political parties will now need to register with Twitter to run any political ads
To tackle the spread of fake news through political advertisements, Twitter has announced a new policy whereby political parties registered with the Election Commission of India can run political advertisements only after registering themselves with Twitter’s Ads Transparency Centre (“ATC”). The ATC allows anyone to view details of the advertisers like the amount of money the advertiser have spent on the advertisement and the mode of payment. This is similar to the steps Facebook had taken in December 2018.
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- Considering the upcoming general elections in India, the steps taken by Twitter will go a long way in ensuring that the platform is not used by political parties to spread any fake news or hate speech.
- Further, as ATC allows anyone to view the amount of money used by the advertisers, the general public will have a better understanding of the amount of money political parties have spent on advertising for elections. This will hopefully reduce the amount of black money political parties spend on general elections: something for which India is famous for.
3. Del HC grants permanent injunction for trademark infringement in an ex-parte hearing
The Delhi High Court (“Del HC”), in the case of Flipkart Internet Private Limited (“Flipkart”) v. www.flipkartwinners.com and others (“Website”) issued a permanent injunction against the Website for violating the trademark of Flipkart.
In this case, Flipkart argued that the Website violated the trademark of Flipkart by naming its website with a name that was similar to Flipkart, a trademark owned by Flipkart. Although the Website did not appear before the Del HC or file a written response, the Del HC ruled that there is no possible defense that can be used by the Website for infringing Flipkart’s trademark. The Del HC, accordingly granted the injunction and directed the Government of India to take all steps in order to block the Website.
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- This can be considered as an important judgement when it comes to enforcing trademarks in India. The Del HC, in this case, passed a permanent injunction without hearing the respondents of the case. This will hopefully, set a precedent, wherein courts will pass permanent injunctions against trademark infringements on the request of the trademark owner when the respondent have not appeared before the court, even after an opportunity for the same has been provided. Non appearance before courts is a common delay tactic used by various parties. This judgement will hopefully end this practice for cases relating to trademark infringement.
4. Director liable for dishonor of a cheque issued by a company: SC
The Supreme Court (“SC”), in the case of A.R. Radha Krishna v. Dasari Deepthi and Ors, has passed an order stating that the director of the company will be responsible for the dishonor of a cheque by a company unless there is evidence to suggest that the director could never have been in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business of the company at the time when the cheque was issued.
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- In this case, the SC has once again reiterated that the directors of the company will be responsible for the conduct of the company. This will make sure that companies are responsible whilst issuing cheques.
- However, there are a few questions that come up whilst enforcing this judgement that has not been addressed by the SC. They are: (a) will courts be allowed to lift the corporate veil of the company in order to find out if the director was actually in charge of the business or had a control of its operations at the time the cheque was issued; and (b) will the director be personally liable if the cheque has been dishonored considering that a company is considered a separate legal entity from the director.
Disclaimer: This post has been prepared for informational purposes only. The information/or observations contained in this post does not constitute legal advice and should not be acted upon in any specific situation without seeking proper legal advice from a practicing attorney.