We all need help when going through life. However, sometimes help from a family or friend is not enough. Sometimes we need help from a professional, for example, a lawyer, when it comes to dealing with legal aid issues like divorce, slander, property issues, etc. In such cases a lawyer is the best help you can seek.

There are different fields of law, and different lawyers have specialization in each one of them. The choice of your attorney will depend on the type legal matter. For example, if you seek custody of your kids after a divorce than a family lawyer is what you would need.

In the article today, we will look at the top 5 lawyers you are most likely to need in life and the role they play.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs Order dated the 18th of September, 2019.—

A Committee to review the offences under the Companies Act, 2013 was constituted vide order No. 2/1/2018-CL-V dated 13.07.2018. The report of the Committee was submitted to the Hon'ble Corporate Affairs Minister on 27.08.2018. The report, inter alia, made recommendations for re-categorizing of certain offences into 'civil wrongs', de-clogging the NCLT and also touched upon certain essential elements of corporate governance. On the basis of recommendations made by such Committee and passage of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, relevant changes have been made to the Companies Act, 2013.

Circular No. SEBI/HO/CDMRD/DRMP/CIR/P/2019/100 dated September 13, 2019 addressed to all  the Recognised Clearing Corporations having Commodity Derivatives Segment, regarding "Additional commodities as Eligible Liquid Assets for Commodity Derivatives Segment", reads as under.—

1. SEBI vide circular CIR/CDMRD/DRMP/01/2015 dated October 01, 2015 prescribed Risk Management Framework for Commodity Derivatives Segment. The said circular prescribed various norms inter-alia covering types of liquid assets, along with applicable minimum haircut and concentration limits, which Clearing Corporations (CC) may accept from their members. Further vide Circular SEBI/HO/CDMRD/DRMP/CIR/P/2016/112 dated October 14, 2016 the concentration limit for Bullion as a collateral was revised to 30%.

Circular No. SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL1/CIR/P/2019/192 dated September 12, 2019.—

Schemes of Arrangement by Listed Entities and Relaxation under sub-rule (7) of Rule 19 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957

1. SEBI Circular No. CFD/DIL3/CIR/2017/21 dated March 10, 2017 has laid down the framework for Schemes of Arrangement by listed entities and relaxation under Rule 19(7) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957.

2. In order to streamline the processing of draft schemes, it has been decided to seek additional information further, at one go. The amendment to the Circular No. CFD/DIL3/CIR/2017/21 dated March 10, 2017, in relation to payment of outstanding dues of SEBI, Stock exchanges and the Depositories is as provided in the Annexure.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has notified the rate of exchange of one unit of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees relating to imported and export goods, in its notification no. 66/2019 - Customs (N.T.) dated 19th September, 2019 (w.e.f. 20th September, 2019).

The contents of the said notification are reproduced as under:—

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), and in supersession of the notification of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs No.63/2019-CUSTOMS (N.T.), dated 05th September, 2019 except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby determines that the rate of exchange of conversion of each of the foreign currencies specified in column (2) of each of Schedule I and Schedule II annexed hereto, into Indian currency or vice versa, shall, with effect from 20th September, 2019, be the rate mentioned against it in the corresponding entry in column (3) thereof, for the purpose of the said section, relating to imported and export goods.

RBI Notification No. FIDD.CO.Plan.BC.No.11/04.09.01/2019-20 dated September 19, 2019 (addressed to all Scheduled Commercial Banks including Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks and Foreign banks with more than 20 branches).—

Please refer to our Circular No. FIDD.CO.Plan.BC.08/04.09.01/2015-16 dated July 16, 2015 advising, inter alia, that the system-wide average of the last three years achievement with regard to overall direct lending to non-corporate farmers will be notified every year.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Circular No. 25/2019 dated 9th September, 2019.—

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been issuing guidelines from time to time for compounding of offences under the Direct Tax Laws, prescribing the eligibility conditions. One of the conditions for filing of Compounding application is that, it should be filed with in 12 months from filing of complaint in the court.

2. Cases have been brought to the notice of CBDT where the taxpayers could not apply for Compounding of the Offence, as the compounding application was filed beyond 12 months, in view of para 8(vii) of the Guidelines for Compounding of Offences under Direct Tax Laws, 2014 dated 23.12.2014 or in view of para 7(ii) of the Guidelines for Compounding of Offences under Direct Tax Laws, 2019 dated 14.06.2019.

Central Board of Direct Taxes Office Memorandum dated 16th September, 2019 is reproduced hereunder.—

Special Order of Board exempting cases involving bogus Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) / Short Term Capital Loss (STCL) through penny stocks from monetary limits specified in any Circular issued under Section 268A of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India Circular No. IBBI/RVO/026/2019 dated 16th September, 2019.—

Valuation required under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Rule 10 of the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017 (Rules) read with section 247 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act) require that a registered valuer shall conduct valuations required under the Act.

2. Circular No. IBBI/RV/019/2018 dated 17th October, 2018 of IBBI mandates that the valuations required under the Code or any of the regulations made thereunder shall be conducted by a registered valuer.

Sep 13, 2019: The Reserve Bank releases monthly data on India’s international trade in services with a lag of around 45 days.

The value of exports and imports of services during the month of July 2019 are given in the following Table.

The official Wholesale Price Index for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) for the month of August, 2019 rose by 0.2% to 121.4 (provisional) from 121.2 (provisional) for the previous month.

(Data hereunder is sourced from the press release dated 14th August, 2019 released by Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India.)

INFLATION

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI for August 2019, remained unchanged at 1.08 compared to July 2019 and 4.62% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.25% compared to a build up rate of 3.27% in the corresponding period of the previous year.