15 th October 2018 Daily Current Affairs

Transcription

1 15 th October 2018 Daily Current Affairs J S Varma Committee 2013: The Centre recently announced its plan to set up a panel of judges to look into the legal and institutional framework to curb sexual harassment at workplaces following the #MeToo campaign on social media. However, as early as 2013, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, in its landmark report on gender laws, had recommended setting up of an employment tribunal instead of an internal complaints committee (ICC) in sweeping changes to the Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill. The panel was formed in the aftermath of the December 16 Nirbhaya gangrape in 2012 and the ensuing nationwide protests, and submitted its report on January 23, 2013.

2 At that time of the submission of the report, the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill had already been passed by the Lok Sabha and was awaiting the Rajya Sabha's nod. The Bill was passed unchanged by the Upper House a month later. The Committee termed the Sexual Harassment Bill "unsatisfactory" and said it did not reflect the spirit of thevishakha guidelines - framed by the Supreme Court in 1997 to curb sexual harassment at the workplace. The report noted that an internal complaints committee as laid down under the then proposed law would be "counterproductive" as dealing with such complaints in-house could discourage women from filing complaints. Instead, the committee proposed forming an employment tribunal to receive and adjudicate all complaints. To ensure speedy disposal of complaints, the Justice Verma Commitee proposed that the tribunal should not function as a civil court but may choose its own procedure to deal with each complaint. The Committee said any "unwelcome behaviour" should be seen from the subjective perception of the complainant, thus broadening the scope of the definition of sexual harassment. The Verma panel said an employer could be held liable if he or she facilitated sexual harassment, permitted an environment where sexual misconduct becomes widespread and systemic, where the employer fails to disclose the company's policy on sexual harassment and ways in which workers can file a complaint as well as fails to forward a complaint to the tribunal. The company would also be liable to pay compensation to the complainant The panel also made several suggestions to encourage women to come forward and file complaints. For instance, it opposed penalising women for false complaints and called it an "abusive provision intended to nullify the objective of the law".

3 The Verma panel also said that the time-limit of three months to file a complaint should be done away with and a complainant should not be transferred without her consent. Modi meets Global Oil and Gas Experts: PM Narendra Modi makes strong case for partnership between producers and consumers in oil market. PM seeks cooperation of developed nations in terms of technology. Interacting with the global leaders of the energy sector, he highlighted the significant positioning of India in the oil and gas market. He noted that the oil market is producer driven and both the quantity and prices are determined by the oil producing countries. Though there is enough production, the unique

4 features of marketing in the oil sector have pushed up the oil prices. Prime Minister Modi made a strong case for a partnership between the producers and consumers, in the oil market, as it exists in other markets. This will help stabilise the global economy which is on path of recovery. He appealed to oil producing countries to channel their investible surplus to pursue commercial exploitation in oil sector in the developing countries Talking of technology, Prime Minister appealed for assistance in areas where high pressure and high-temperature technology applications are relevant to commercial exploitation of natural gas. He also requested for a review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency. IL&FS debt pile-up and rescue: The new board of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) was appointed by the Centre, after it secured the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to supersede the previous board accused of mismanagement' and compromise of corporate governance norms,' leading to financial issues. The shareholders of IL&FS include LIC, ORIX Corporation, the Central Bank of India, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HDFC and the State Bank of India. The Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest shareholder in IL&FS with a 25.34% stake, followed by Orix Corporation of Japan with 23.54%. The company's current woes partly arise from the shareholders' inability to agree on the right valuation for bringing in fresh capital. It all started with a default in August on a Rs. 1,000 crore shortterm loan extended by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) that led to a trail of several defaults in following weeks.

5 The IL&FS group has a total debt of Rs. 91,000 crore. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandates that once a non-government security falls below investment grade, it has to be valued at a discount of 25% to its face value. On a standalone basis, IL&FS may constitute a small portion of the overall debt assets of mutual funds, but a default creates a ripple effect for all NBFCs as the cost of funds goes up with mutual funds becoming wary of buying such securities. If IL&FS had been allowed to collapse, it would have impacted the whole NBFC industry and hit housing finance, capital market fund raising, margin financing and even retail loans to a large extent. The RBI is believed to be looking at strengthening the regulatory framework to avoid asset liability mismatches by NBFCs.

6 SC Collegium recommends names of chief justices for 5 high courts The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has recommended the appointment of five Chief Justices to the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta, Uttarakhand, Gauhati and Sikkim. The resolutions recommending the Chief Justices to the five High Courts were passed by the SC Collegium on October 9. Besides the CJI, the Collegium included Justices Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph. SC Collegium Recommendations: Justice NH Patil: The judge, who is currently functioning as the Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, has been recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the court. The post has been vacant since the retirement of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur in December Justice N.H. Patil is due to retire in April Justice DK Gupta: The justice, who has been working as Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, has been recommended to be appointed as the next Chief Justice, replacing Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya who retired recently. Justice Gupta is due to retire in December Justice Ramesh Ranganathan: The senior-most judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at Hyderabad has been recommended to be appointed as Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. The post has been lying vacant ever since Chief Justice KM Joseph was elevated to the Supreme Court earlier in Justice AS Bopanna: The senior judge from the Karnataka High Court has been recommended to be appointed as the next Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court. He will replace Chief Justice Ajit Singh who recently retired.

7 Justice Vijai Kumar Bist: The senior-most judge of the Uttarakhand High Court has been recommended to be appointed as the next Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court. The post was vacant since the retirement of Chief Justice SK Agnihotri. Govt. panel struggles to define shell company' The multi-agency committee set to finalise the definition of a "shell company" for the purposes of enforcing penal laws for various violations is yet to arrive at a consensus on yardsticks for identification of such entities. After a large number of entities, classified as a shell company, challenged the decision, the government had set up the committee to come up with a definition. Accordingly, the committee drafted a definition that had to be tested on various yardsticks to determine its legal feasibility. The shady financial transactions, ownerships and assets of thousands of companies have been studied in a bid to come up with acceptable criteria to declare an entity a shell company as per the law. The committee also examined the definition given by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD defines a shell firm as "a company that is formally registered, incorporated, or otherwise legally organised in an economy but which does not conduct any operations in that economy other than in a pass-through capacity. Shells tend to be conduits or holding companies and are generally included in the description of Special Purpose Entities". The issue had come up after the government cracked down on dummy companies that were used for round-trippingof funds and money laundering.

8 Source: TH, ANI, AIR