One Day National e-Seminar on Contemporary Corporate Governance in India

The One-day National e-Seminar on Contemporary Corporate Governance in India was organized by Centre for Regulatory Studies, Governance and Public Policy, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata in association with the Centre for Advanced Research in Corporate Law, National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam on 28th of August, 2022, 3 p.m. onward. The e-seminar was graced with the presence of Keynote Speaker Prof. Dr. N.L. Mitra (Former Chancellor, KIIT University, Former Director, NLSIU Bangalore, Former Vice Chancellor, NLU Jodhpur); Chief Guest Justice Sanjib Banerjee (Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court); Resource Persons – Prof. (Dr). Indrajit Dube (Professor at Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)and Prof. (Dr.) V.K. Unni (Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta). With the support of Dr. Jayanta Ghosh, Head and Research Fellow of CRSGPP, WBNUJS; Prof Debasis Poddar Sir, Advisor Centre for Advanced Research in Corporate Law, NLUJA, Assam and Ms. Monmi Gohain, Centre Coordinator, Centre for Advanced Research in Corporate Law, NLUJA, Assam. The programme sessions were moderated by Ms. Sanghamitra Baladhikari and Mr. Vijoy Kumar Sinha (Research Assistants, CRSGPP, WBNUJS).
The programme was initiated with the welcome address speech of Prof. (Dr). N.K. Chakrabarti, Vice Chancellor, WBNUJS, Kolkata and the inaugural speech of Prof. (Dr.) V. K. Ahuja, Vice Chancellor, NLUJA, Assam.
The Keynote Speaker Prof. Dr. N.L. Mitra delivered an enriching deliberation on the historical development of corporate governance in India. He discussed the rights of the share holders and benefits given to shareholders, which is a significant component of corporate governance strategies. He cited the Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States case and discussed aspects of insider trading and fraudulent activities within organisations. In conclusion he stated about the public policy in corporate governance and the initiation of the second phase of corporate governance. Prof. Mitra addressed the questions raised by the audience at the end of the session.
The second session was chaired by Chief Guest Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee (Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court). His lordship initiated the discussion on the concept of ‘what is law’, origination of company law and historical tracing of private companies starting from the English East India Company Rule. Justice Banerjee further discussed that the prime motive of a company is upon profits; however the conduct of the company while dealing with the profits is significant. Further, he discussed the doctrine of indoor management; importance of regulators including insider trading regulations, takeover regulations and public issue regulations. Lastly, he elucidated upon the criminalisation of actions/mistakes in corporate governance. Justice Banerjee addressed the questions raised by the audience at the end of the session. At the end of this session there was a discussion initiated by Prof. Dr. N.K. Chakrabarti regarding the improvement of legal education in this scenario.
The next session was chaired by Prof. (Dr). Indrajit Dube. He began his deliberation by discussing the components of corporate governance including compliance, organizational structureand reporting. He further discussed on the changing model of business including classic business model, ecosystem model and associated model of company. He discussed the elements of improvising the organisational structure including composition of Board, Board diversity, organisation mechanism for risk management and business sustainability. He also threw light on sustainable business practice (CG Reporting style); benefits of using AI to achieve corporate governance and concluded the discussion by discussing the challenges to corporate governance. Prof. Dube addressed the questions raised by the audience at the end of the session.
The final session was chaired by Prof. (Dr.) V.K. Unni. Prof Unni elucidated on the topic Related Party Transactions & Corporate Governance. He discussed about the controller stakeholder agency problem; the role of independent directors and how far an independent director is really independent in regard to decision making power in a company and whether the independent director really improve firm performance. He concluded the session by discussing the case of the company Maruti Suzuki. Prof Unni, addressed the questions raised by the audience at the end of the session.
In the valedictory session, the concluding remarks was delivered by Dr. Jayanta Ghosh and the final Vote of Thanks was delivered by Ms. Monmi Gohain. The e-seminar was closed at 7p.m. with the permission of respective Hon’ble Vice Chancellors of WBNUJS, Kolkata and NLUJA, Assam Prof. (Dr). N.K. Chakrabarti and Prof. (Dr.) V. K. Ahuja.