IRDA, Insurance , Corporate Law Articles, Notification, News and Circular

If an arbitration agreement says that no interest would be payable for an award amount from the date when the cause of action arose and the date of the award, the court cannot order a party to pay interest, the Supreme Court clarified in the case, Sree Kamatchi Amman Constructions vs Divisional Railway Manager. In this case, the contract stated that no interest would be payable on amounts payable to the contractor. Full Article

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 29B of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (65 of 1951), the Central Government, after considering the recommendations made to it by the Advisory Committee, hereby directs that the following further amendment shall be made in the notification of the Government of India in the erstwhile Ministry of Industry (Department of Industrial Development) number S.O. 477(E), dated 25 July, 1991, Full Article

The Authority is in receipt of complaints from policyholders relating to agency identification and servicing, especially when they have approached insurers directly and are serviced through an agency allotted by the insurer. In particular, there are complaints that there are instances of agency codes that are dummy, with the agent being non-existent. Full Article

During the inspection of several broker and insurers, it was found that audit trial of many transactions with regard to reinsurance placements and coinsurance was very difficult to track. The trial started going cold after the money reaches the broker and cash flows to and from the reinsurer were not available for monitoring, either with the broker or the insurer. In this context, it is becoming difficult to verify the genuineness of the placements. Full Article

For the sixth year in a row, over 4.7 crore subscribers of retirement fund manager EPFO are likely to get 8.5 per cent interest on their deposits in the current fiscal. "EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), is likely to fix 8.5 per cent interest for subscribers at its meeting scheduled for September 10," a source said. Full Article

Property statements filed by civil servants are not confidential information and can be disclosed after taking the views of concerned officials as per the provisions of the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has held. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah rejected the plea of Department of Personnel and Training that these records were held "in confidence" by the government and are hence exempted from disclosure. Full Article

Insurance regulator IRDA has slapped a fine of Rs 20 lakh on Bharti Enterprises promoted life and non-life insurance ventures for not informing changes in ownership pattern. Both Bharti Axa Life Insurance Company and Bharti Axa General Insurance Company has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 10 lakh each. Full Article

Proposal for amendment of RTI Act is under consideration in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. The proposal under consideration includes, inter-alia, amendment to enlarge the scope of suo-motu disclosure, to discourage frivolous or vexatious representations, Full Article