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What happened
The LiveLaw Business Company Law Quarterly Digest for July–September 2026 consolidates key rulings under the Companies Act 2013, including National Spot Exchange Ltd moving the Supreme Court against a High Court order refusing joint trial in CBI cases over its alleged payment crisis. The digest covers judicial interpretations of director duties, corporate governance obligations, and procedural questions under the Companies Act — material regularly tested in law and finance entrance examinations.
02 Understand
Why it matters
The Companies Act 2013 is India's primary statute governing incorporation, management, and winding up of companies. Quarterly digests from courts consolidate evolving interpretations that examiners use to frame application-based questions.
Key doctrinal areas this digest touches:
**Director Duties and Liability (Sections 149–166):** Directors owe fiduciary duties to the company, not shareholders individually. Courts have repeatedly held that a nominee or independent director cannot escape liability merely by claiming ignorance of board decisions if they attended meetings where resolutions were passed.
**NSEL Payment Crisis — Corporate Law Angle:** NSEL's insistence on a joint trial raises questions about corporate criminal liability under Section 447 (fraud) and the doctrine of lifting the corporate veil. When multiple accused persons and entities are involved in the same transaction, courts examine whether separate trials risk inconsistent findings — a procedural principle rooted in Section 223 of the CrPC (now BNSS).
**Specific Performance Post-2018 Amendment:** Under the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018, specific performance is now the general rule, not the exception, for contracts. Courts can no longer refuse it merely because monetary compensation seems adequate — a proposition directly tested in CLAT PG 2025.
**Corporate Governance:** SEBI's listing obligations overlay the Companies Act for listed entities, making governance failures simultaneously a Companies Act violation and a SEBI enforcement matter.
For CLAT PG aspirants, the examiner's pattern is to present a passage describing a corporate dispute and ask which legal proposition correctly states the director's duty or the company's liability.
Key doctrinal areas this digest touches:
**Director Duties and Liability (Sections 149–166):** Directors owe fiduciary duties to the company, not shareholders individually. Courts have repeatedly held that a nominee or independent director cannot escape liability merely by claiming ignorance of board decisions if they attended meetings where resolutions were passed.
**NSEL Payment Crisis — Corporate Law Angle:** NSEL's insistence on a joint trial raises questions about corporate criminal liability under Section 447 (fraud) and the doctrine of lifting the corporate veil. When multiple accused persons and entities are involved in the same transaction, courts examine whether separate trials risk inconsistent findings — a procedural principle rooted in Section 223 of the CrPC (now BNSS).
**Specific Performance Post-2018 Amendment:** Under the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018, specific performance is now the general rule, not the exception, for contracts. Courts can no longer refuse it merely because monetary compensation seems adequate — a proposition directly tested in CLAT PG 2025.
**Corporate Governance:** SEBI's listing obligations overlay the Companies Act for listed entities, making governance failures simultaneously a Companies Act violation and a SEBI enforcement matter.
For CLAT PG aspirants, the examiner's pattern is to present a passage describing a corporate dispute and ask which legal proposition correctly states the director's duty or the company's liability.
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