Course Code PGDM102
Course Legal Aspects and Business & Industry
School ABBS School of Management
Batch 2019-2021
Term Trimester 1
Level Postgraduate
Location Bangalore, ABBS SM Campus
Credits/ 3/5
Modules
Area Core/ General Management
Course The course is intended to provide practical aspect of business law that will
Description enable them to formulate and implement the law relating to corporate trade &
commerce as well as other related functional areas. In business world of
complex nature both in national as well as global level management students
have to acquire familiarities with and awareness of the main provisions of the
various Acts. This will enable the students to acquire an up to date knowledge
of how statutory provision has been interpreted by the court of law. Therefore
it is generally understood to include law relating to IT, RTI, CPA.
LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS
Course Code : PGDM06 Course Credits : 3
Batch :2019-21 Area : General Management
COURSE SNAPSHOT:
The course is intended to provide practical aspect of business law that will
enable the students to formulate and implement the law relating to corporate
trade & commerce as well as other related functional areas. In business world of
complex nature both in notional as well as global level management students
have to acquire familiarities with and awareness of the main provisions of the
various Acts. This will enable the students to acquire an up to date knowledge
of how statutory provision has been interpreted by the court of law. Therefore it
is generally understood to include the laws relating to I.T. RTI work place
harassment consumer protection Act, FEMA Act and Environmental Law.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Legal Aspects of Business is designed to expose the student to the Indian
Legal System and it’s affect on business activities.
The course provides the student, information about the difference
between trial courts and appellate courts, public law and private law,
legal procedure, computer and intellectual law, business crimes, contract
law, and sales of goods.
LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS
COURSE OUTCOMES(COs)
CO 1: Analyze the nature and terminology of contract law.
CO 2: Develop and inculcate an acceptable attitudes and viewpoints among the
students with respect to business ethics and social responsibility.
CO 3: Develop ability among the students to prepare and present, either orally
or in writing, an argument for or against a pre-selected proposition.
CO 4: Demonstrate the relationship between law and economic activity by
developing in the student an awareness of legal principles involved in economic
relationships and business transactions.
CO 5: Understand and recognise intellectual property and Identify how
computer law affects business.
CO 6: Applying various Acts and Cases with detailed description in different
business situations and its environment.
MODULES:
Module 1: Business law in India: An overview and source of business law.
Module 2: Information technology, RTI, competition Act.
Module 3: Consumer protection Act FEMA Act 1999.
Module 4: Indian companies Act 1956.
Module 5: Indian patent Act 1970 & 2004 environmental protection Act 1986.
Law relating to sexual harassment at workplace. Women & human
rights at workplace.
COURSE DELIVERY
Class Room Engagement 30 Hours
Directed Learning 30 Hours
(Assignments, Case study, Project, Quiz, Presentation
etc.,)
Total 60 Hours
DIRECTED LEARNING
Sl.No Description of Components No.of Outcome/Remarks
Hours
1 Assignment 6 Individual
2 Case Study 8 Individual
3 Project 4 Group
4 Quiz 4 Group
5 Presentation 8 Group
Total 30
Session Plan – Classroom Engagement (CE)
Session Topic Pre-reading Pedagogy Assessment CO
No.
1-2 Introduction, - Essential of Recommend Lectures Presentation 1&2
contract, Source of business ed Text Book Case lets
law & Its scope. discussion
3-4 Significance of Recommend Lecture class Assignment 2&3
5-6 E commerce, ed Text Book & Discussion
Competition Act
Recommend Lecture class Case Analysis 4
7-8 Right to information act. ed Text Book Case Analysis
9-10 Consumer Protection Act, Recommend Lecture class, Quiz- 1 4
Service deficiency, Remedies ed Text Case study
11-12 for the deficiency Book,
Case
13-16 Promotion of company/ Recommend Lecture class, Assignment 5
17-19 Indian Company Act, ed Text Case discussion
Foreign Exchange Book,
Management Act Cases
20-22 Legal aspect of patent and its Recommend Lecture group Quiz 2 6
application ed Text discussion
Book, Case
23-24 Causes for pollution & its Recommend Lecture class Case analysis 5
remedial measure ed Text discussion
Book, Case
25-27 Work place harassment- Recommend Lecture class, Presentation 5
gender discrimination ed Text discussion
Book,Case
28 Sexual harassment at work Recommend Lecture class, Case Analysis 2 &6
place ed Text discussion
Book, Case
28-30 Environment Protection Act Recommend Do Project 3&5
ed Text Book
Study Material
Recommended Text Books
1. (CT) Core Text: M.C. Kuchal “Business Law”
2. Akhileshwar Pathak “Legal Aspects of Business”
(RB) Reference Books
1. V.Balachandran & S Thothadri – Business law.
2. S.S. Gulshan, Business law.
3. P.K. Gail- Business law for managers.
4. C.L. Banol- Business & Corporate laws.
Cases:
1. Balfour v/s Balfour
2. Carlill v/s Carbolic smokeball Co.Ltd
3. S.P. Gupta V S Union of India.
4. Asiatic Govt. Security L I C Ltd Vs new Asiatic Insurances co Ltd.
5. Patent – Basmeti rice case on patent (Ricetech Patent)
6. Union of India Vs S. Prakash.
7. Breach Vs Knight
8. VenkatSwamy Vs Rangaswamy.
WEBSITE LINKS:
1. www.toppr.com
2. www.britannica.com
3. www.edX.org
4. www.lawteacher.net
EVALUATION COMPONENTS:
Parameter Components Weightage Total
Assignments 7%
Case Study 10%
Presentation 10% 60%
Internal Project 8%
Assessments Quiz 5%
(Continuous Mid Term Exam 20% or
Assessment) (40 Marks Question Paper) 20 Marks
90 Minutes
End Term Term End Examination 40% 40%
Assessments (80 Marks Question Paper) 40 Marks
150 Minutes
PO’S AND CO’S MAPPING MATRIX
PO-01 PO-02 PO-03 PO-04 PO-05 PO-06 PO-07
CO-01 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
CO-02 3 3 2 3 3 1 3
CO-03 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
CO-04 3 3 1 3 3 2 3
CO-05 3 3 3 3 3 2 3
CO-06 3 3 3 3 2 3 3
Cases to be Discussed
1. BalfourvBalfour [1919]
A husband worked overseas and agreed to send maintenance payments to his wife. At
the time of the agreement the couple were happily married. The relationship later
soured and the husband stopped making the payments. The wife sought to enforce the
agreement.
Held:
The agreement was a purely social and domestic agreement and therefore it was
presumed that the parties did not intend to be legally bound.
2. Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1892]
English contract law decision by the Court of Appeal. It is notable for its curious
subject matter and how the influential judges (particularly Lindley LJ and Bowen LJ)
developed the law in inventive ways. Carlill is frequently discussed as an introductory
contract case, and may often be the first legal case a law student studies.
A medical firm advertised that its new wonder drug, a smoke ball, would cure
people’s flu, and if it did not, buyers would receive £100. When sued, Carbolic argued
the ad was not to be taken as a serious, legally binding offer. It was merely an
invitation to treat, and a gimmick. But the court of appeal held that it would appear to
a reasonable man that Carbolic had made a serious offer. People had given good
“consideration” for it by going to the “distinct inconvenience” of using a faulty
product.
3. These writ petitions filed in different High Courts and transferred to this Court
under Article 139 of the Constitution raise issues of great constitutional importance
affecting the independence of the judiciary and they have been argued at great length
before us. The arguments have occupied as many as thirty five days and they have
ranged over a large number of issues comprising every imaginable aspect of the
judicial institution, Voluminous written submissions have been filed before us which
reflect the enormous industry and vast erudition of the learned Counsel appearing for
the parties and a large number of authorities, Indian as well as foreign, have been
brought to our attention. We must acknowledge with gratitude our indebtedness to the
learned Counsel for the great assistance they have rendered to us in the delicate and
difficult task of adjudicating upon highly sensitive issues arising in these writ
petitions. We find, and this is not unusual in cases of this kind, that a considerable
amount of passion has been injected into the arguments on both sides and sometimes
passion may appear to lend strength to an argument, but, sitting as Judges, we have to
be careful to see that passion does not blind us to logic and predilections pervert
proper interpretation of the constitutional provisions. We have to examine the
arguments objectively and dispassionately without being swayed by populist approach
or sentimental appeal. It is very easy for the human mind to find justification for a
conclusion which accords with the dictates of emotion. Reason is a ready enough
advocate for the decision one, consciously or unconsciously, desires to reach. I will
recall the brilliant fling of Shri Arobindo in his poem "Savitri".
An inconclusive play is Reason's toil;
Each strong idea can use her as its tool;
Accepting every brief she pleads her case, Open to every thought she cannot know.
We have therefore to rid our mind of any pre-conceived notions or ideas and interpret the
Constitution as it is and not as we think it ought to be. We can always find some reason for
bending the language of the Constitution to our will, if we want, but that would be rewriting
the Constitution in the guise of interpretation. We must also remember that the Constitution is
an organic instrument intended to endure and its provisions must be interpreted having regard
to the constitutional objectives and goals and not in the light of how a particular Government
may be acting at a given point of time. Judicial response to the problem of constitutional
interpretation must not suffer from the fault of emotionalism or sentimentalism which is
likely to cloud the vision when Judges are confronted with issues of momentous importance.
We must constantly bear in mind the famous words of Holmes J., in Northern Security Co. v.
United States (1903) 193 US 197, where that great illustrious Judge said:
Great cases like hard cases make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of
their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of
immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment,
These immediate interests exercise a kind of hydraulic pressure which makes what previously
was clear seem doubtful, and before which even well settled principles of law will bend.
With these prefatory words we may now proceed to state the facts of these writ petitions.
The first writ petition is that filed by Iqbal Chagla and others in the High Court of Bombay.
The petitioners in this writ petition are advocates practising in the High Court of Bombay and
they have challenged a circular letter dated 18th March, 1981, addressed by Shri Shiv
Shankar, the Law Minister of the Government of India, to the Governor of Punjab and the
Chief Ministers of the other States. Since the circular letter has formed the subject matter of
heated controversy between the parties and its constitutional validity has been assailed on
behalf of the petitioners, it would be desirable to reproduce it in extenso in the words of the
author himself:
4. In Frost v Knight.
The defendant had promised that when the plaintiff’s father died, he would marry her.
However, during the father’s lifetime, the defendant broke off his engagement to the
plaintiff. Without waiting for the death of her father, the plaintiff sued immediately for
breach of promise of marriage.
Frost v Knight (1872) LR 7 Exch 111, p 112 Cockburn CJ: The law with reference to a
contract to be performed at a future time, where the party bound to performance announces
prior to the time his intention not to perform it, as established by the cases of Hochster v
De La Tour and The Danube and Black Sea Co v Xenos on the one hand, and Avery v
Bowden, Reid v Hoskins and Barwick v Buba on the other, may be thus stated. The
promisee, if he pleases, may treat the notice of intention as inoperative, and await the time
when the contract is to be executed, and then hold the other party responsible for all the
consequences of non-performance: but in that case he keeps the contract alive for the
benefit of the other party as well as his own; he remains subject to all his own obligations
and liabilities under it, and enables the other party not only to complete the contract, if so
advised, notwithstanding his previous repudiation of it, but also to take advantage of any
supervening circumstance which would justify him in declining to complete it.
5. Venkataswamy vs Rangaswamy case law.
On 25th December 1950 one Venkalaswami Naicker. a resident of Adikarapalayam,
Tiruchen-gode taluk, Salem Dt. borrowed a sum of Rs. 9000 from A. V. Srinivasalu Naidu, a
resident of Appa-nayakkanpatti, Palladam taluk, Coimbatore Dt. and executed an instrument
styled as a promissory note with a stipulation to pay interest at 61/2 per cent per annum. On
the same day Srinivasalu Naidu, in whose favour the aforesaid instrument was executed,
endorsed the installment in favour of his brother-in-law Rangaswami Naidu for valid
consideration. Venkataswami Naicker died in or about November 1954. He left behind as his
heir his brother, Govindaswami Naidu.
Venkataswami Naicker is also supposed to have executed a testament bequeathing some of
his properties to one Govindarajulu Naidu. Rangaswami, the endorsee referred to above filed
the suit, O, S. No. 182 of 1955 on the file of the court of tile Subordinate Judge, Coimbatore,
seeking to recover the principal sum of Rs. 9000 advanced by Srinivasalu Naidu to the late
Venkataswami Naicker together with future interest from Govindaswami Naidu, brother of
the lute Venkataswami, impleadcd as the first defendant in the action, and from
Govindarajulu Naidu the legatee of the will by Venkataswami impleaded as the 2nd
defendant.
The suit was instituted on 2-7-1955. The plaintiff pleaded that though the suit was laid
beyond three years from the date of the borrowing it was in time as the original promisor and
defendants 1 and 2 were all agriculturists entitled to the benefit of the Madras Ordinance V of
1933, Act V of 1954 and Act 1 of 1955.
Defendants 1 and 2 filed separate written statements in the suit. The first defendant pleaded
that the late Venkataswami Naicker was his undivided brother and that the properties in his
hands are all joint family properties of himself and his brother. He pleaded that the debt
incurred by Venkataswami had been fully discharged by payment of cash of Rs. 5000 on or
about 2-10-1951, and by delivery of two electric motors of 5 H. P. with pump set worth Rs.
3000 and by delivery of 10 sirens worth Rs. 3000. He denied that either Venkataswami or
himself was an agriculturist with-in the meaning of the Ordinance and the Madras Acts V of
1954 and 1 of 1955, and contended that the suit was barred by limitation.
He also raised a further plea that the instrument executed by Venkataswami in favour of Sri-
nivasalu Naidu was not a promissory note and was incapable of being negotiated and that
therefore a the plaintiff claiming to be an endorsee was disentitled to sue. The written
statement filed by the 2nd defendant raised substantially the same contention as those found
in the written statement of the first defendant.
6.
