Page 17 - Banking Finance November 2017

LEGAL UPDATE

LEGAL

CASES
CASES
CASES
CASES
CASES

High Court imposes pen- Pending cases fall in Supreme Court, High courts but
alty for violating copyright rise in lower courts
The number of cases pending in the Supreme Court and high courts has gone
Delhi High Court imposed a penalty
of Five lakh on a firm which violated down in the past 3 years but the pendency has seen an upward swing in the
the copyright of another and issued lower judiciary, says data released by law ministry. According to figures com-
a permanent injunction against it in piled by the ministry, the apex court had 62,791 pending cases at the end of
the judgment, in the case between 2014. The figures went down to 59,272 in December, 2015. But at the end of
Xegent Consultants Pvt Ltd vs Ea 2016, the pendency in the Supreme Court went up to 62,537.
Water Pvt Ltd. Similar is the case with the 24 high courts of the country where pending cases
Xegent claimed that it is an interna- were pegged at 4.15 million at the end of 2014. But at the end of 2016, the
tional consultancy and project devel- cases went up to 4.01 million. But in the subordinate courts-considered the back-
opment company in the field of irri- bone of the country's justice delivery system-the pendency of cases has gone up
gation/water resources and one of in the last three years. While the pending cases in 2014 were recorded at 26.4
the most recognised brand names in million, they went up to 27 million in 2015. In December, 2016, the pending cases
the water sector news and informa- went up to 27.4 million.
tion domain. It stated that several of
its readers confused its articles with Centre seeks help from state govts for tracking shell
that of Ea Water as the contents
were often exact copies. firms
Walking the talk on strict action against the companies suspected to have laun-
The contents of its website
indiawaterreview.in were also found dered money after demonetisation, the central government has sought help from
copied by another site, 'Everything state governments in identifying and tracking properties belonging to these com-
about water'. panies. Recovery of assets would require state governments’ assistance.
Xegent objected to the copyright vio- The ministry of corporate affairs, which regulates unlisted companies, has sought
lation but the rival persisted in the responses from state governments to a letter sent to them on 12 September for
violation. It moved the HC, which identification and tracking of properties belonging to more than 200,000 com-
granted its prayers observing that it panies that had been struck off the records of the Registrar of Companies (RoC)
had shown "prima facie violation of earlier this year.
Xegent's exclusive right on the liter- “The process of identification of such properties needs to be completed at the
ary work done during many years. earliest and requisite information is to be shared with the ministry of corporate
The conduct of violating the copy- affairs in a time bound manner,” minister of state for corporate affairs P.P.
right is deplorable." Chaudhary said in a statement.

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