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Utkarsh Kumar

Partner in the Disputes Practice at the Mumbai office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Utkarsh focuses on shareholder and boardroom disputes, particularly matters involving promoter-investor relationships, governance and control, and breakdowns in investment and M&A arrangements. He also advises on regulatory investigations and enforcement matters. He can be reached at utkarsh.kumar@cyrilshroff.com.

Corporate Criminal Liability: Supreme Court Lays Down a Three-Stage Framework for Attributing Mens REA to Companies

Summary: The article examines the Supreme Court’s decision in Sanofi India Ltd. v. Central Bureau of Investigation, which lays down a three-stage framework for determining when a natural person’s act and mens rea may be attributed to a company. The judgment is significant because it brings structure to a previously unsettled area of corporate criminal liability and makes a company’s decision-making authority, delegation framework and transaction-specific governance record central to the attribution analysis.

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When Food-Safety Enforcement Reaches the Boardroom: Director Liability Under the FSS Act

Summary: Heightened food-safety enforcement is bringing renewed attention to the personal exposure of directors and senior management. A series of High Court decisions in 2026 illustrates the boundaries of liability under Section 66 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The emerging position rejects both extremes: directorship alone does not establish criminal liability, while the appointment of a nominated food-safety officer does not necessarily insulate directors where the alleged contravention is attributable to their consent, connivance, or neglect. For boards, the significance increasingly lies in how responsibility is allocated, how significant food-safety concerns are escalated and how senior management eventually responds to these concerns.

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Delhi High Court Clarifies Scope of Anti-Arbitration Injunctions in Foreign-Seated Proceedings

Summary: In a landmark ruling, the Delhi High Court in Engineering Projects (India) Ltd v. MSA Global LLC clarified that Indian civil courts retain limited but real jurisdiction to stay foreign-seated arbitrations if the proceedings are shown to be vexatious or abusive. The decision strengthens procedural safeguards for parties, by reaffirming the courts’ power to intervene in cases of deliberate non-disclosure and procedural misconduct, notwithstanding the “minimal intervention” principle under Indian arbitration law.

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Arbitration jurisprudence in India continues to vacillate when it comes to the interplay between exclusive jurisdiction clause and arbitration clause, particularly in the realm of domestic arbitration. A key challenge lies in determining which Court will have supervisory jurisdiction over arbitral proceedings — especially when the arbitration clause and jurisdiction clause are not in harmony.

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Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) revises Dispute Resolution Mechanism for Renewable Energy Projects

Introduction

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (“MNRE”) has issued an order dated June 07, 2023 (“Order”), to bring about important changes to the dispute resolution mechanism for disputes between Renewable Energy Power Developers/ Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) Contractors and designated Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies (“REIA”). The Order aims to provide a time-bound, transparent and unbiased platform for resolving disputes in the renewable energy sector.

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