AIBE 20 Company Law 2025: Syllabus, Topics, Important Cases, Books

AIBE 20 Company Law 2025

The detailed syllabus of Company Law subject of AIBE 20 has been given below:

Topic 1 : Nature and Kinds of Companies

1. ‘Company’ – Definition; Evolution; History of Company Legislation in India; Meaning and Nature of Company with Emphasis on its Advantages and Disadvantages over other forms of Business organizations. Comparison between Company and Partnership and Company and Limited Liability Partnership, Companies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020.

2. Theory of ‘Corporate Personality’; Concept of Separate Legal Entity, Company not a citizen of India; Lifting of the Corporate Veil, Statutory Exceptions to Limited Liability.

Important Cases

1. Salomon v. Salomon & Co., Ltd. (1897) A.C. 22 (H.L.): (1895-95) All ER Rep. 33

2. State Trading Corporation v. CTO, AIR 1963 SC 811

3. TELCO v. State of Bihar, AIR 1965 SC 40

4. R.C. Cooper v. Union of India (1970) 3 SCR 530

5. Bennett Coleman & Co. & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors, (1972) 2 SCC 788

6. Daimler Co., Ltd. v. Continental Tyre and Rubber Co. (Great Britain), Ltd., 1916 AC 307: (1916-17) All ER Rep. 191

7. Lee v. Lee’s Air Farming, Ltd. (1960) 3 All E.R. 420

8. In re Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit, AIR 1927 Bom. 371

9. CIT v. Meenakshi Mills Ltd., AIR 1967 SC 819: (1967) 1 SCR 934

10. Workmen v. Associated Rubber Industries Ltd. (1985) 4 SCC 11: (1986) 59 Comp. Cas. 134 (SC)

11. Gilford Motor Co., Ltd. v. Horne (1933) 1 Ch. 935

12. Subhra Mukherjee v. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (2000) 3 SCC 312

13. Kapila Hingorani v. State of Bihar (2003) 6 SCC 1

C. Kinds of Companies – Public Sec.2(71) and Private Companies Sec.2(68); Holding Sec.2(46) and Subsidiary Companies Sec.2(87); Limited and Unlimited Companies Sec.2(92); Share-holding and Guarantee Companies Sec.2(21/22); Small company Sec.2(85); One person company Sec.2(62); Government company Sec.2(45); and foreign company Sec.2(42).

Topic 2 : Promotion and Formation of Company

1. Promotion: Promotion of Company, Promoters Sec.2 (69), their position, Powers, Duties and Liabilities.

2. Formation: Formation of Company (Sec.3), Procedure of registration including online registration of a company, Effects of Certificate of Incorporation and Registration of company (Sec.9).

Important Cases

1. Erlanger v. New Sombrero Phosphate Co. (1878) 3 AC 1218: (1874-80) All ER Rep. 271

Topic 3: Company’s Constitutional Documents

1. Memorandum of Association Section 4 and Articles of Association Section 5 – Importance, Registration and Its Effect; Binding Nature; Clauses in Memorandum of Association, Alteration of Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association Section 10-16

2. Doctrine of Ultra vires – A Critical Analysis of doctrine of Ultra Vires.

Important Cases

1. Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Co. Ltd. v. Riche (1875) L.R.7 H.L.: (1874-80) All ER Rep. 2219 (HL)

2. Cotman v. Brougham, (1918-19) All ER Rep. 265 (HL)

3. In re (Jon) Beuforte (London) Ltd. (1953) Ch. 131

4. Bell Houses, Ltd. v. City Wall Properties, Ltd. (1966) 2 All E.R.674

5. Re Introductions, Ltd., Introductions, Ltd. v. National Provincial Bank Ltd. (1969) 1 All ER 887

6. Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar v. Life Insurance Corporation of India, AIR 1963 SC 1185

3. Doctrine of Indoor Management; Binding Nature of Articles of Association between members/shareholders inter se and also outsiders; Rule of Constructive Notice; Doctrine of Indoor Management and its exceptions.

Important Cases

1. Royal British Bank v. Turquand (1856) 119 ER 886: (1843-60) All ER Rep. 435

2. Freeman & Lockyer (A Firm) v. Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Ltd. (1964) 1 All ER 630

3. Kotla Venkataswamy v. Chinta Ramamurthy, AIR 1934 Mad. 579

4. Dehradun-Mussoorie Electric Tramway Co. v. Jagmandar Das and Others, AIR 1932 All 141.

Topic 4: Prospectus

Prospectus Sec. 2(70), Kinds- Abridged Sec.2 (1), Deemed Sec.25, Shelf Sec. 31, Red-Herring Sec. 32, Information Memorandum, Registration Sec.26, Remedies against Misrepresentation, Liabilities- Civil and Criminal.

Topic 5 : Company’s Share Capital/Debenture

1. Equity Finance: Shares Sec. 2(84), Kinds of Share capital Sec.43

(a) Equity share (b) Preference share

2. Debt Finance: Debentures Sec. 2(30) Nature of shares or debentures Sec.44 Comparison Between Share and Debenture

Topic 6 : Board of Directors

Corporate Governance; Appointment of Directors; Duties of Directors and their Criminal and Civil liabilities. Director’s Identification Number Sec.153-159 Independent Director Sec.2 (47)

Case Study on Satyam Scandal

Important Cases

1. Percival v. Wright (1902) 2 Ch. 421

2. Burland v. Earle (1902) AC 83: (1900-03) All ER Rep. 1452

3. City Equitable Fire Insurance Co., Re (1925) Ch. 407

4. Regal (Hastings) Ltd. v. Gulliver (1967) 2 A.C. 134 (HL)

5. Industrial Development Consultants Ltd. v. Cooley (1972) 1 WLR 443

6. Standard Chartered Bank v. Pakistan National Shipping Cop. (2003) 1 All ER 173 (HL)

Topic 7: General Meetings

Types / Kinds of Meetings, Essential Conditions of a Valid Meeting, Procedure for Calling Company Meetings.

Topic 8: Prevention of Oppression and Mismanagement

Protection of Minority Shareholders; Powers of Tribunal and Central Government; Prevention of Oppression and Mismanagement Sec.241-244; Class Action Suit (Sec.245) Foss v. Harbottle Rule - Exceptions – acts ultra vires, fraud on minority, acts requiring special majority, wrongdoers in control, etc.

Important Cases

1. Foss v. Harbottle (1843) 2 Hare 461: (1843) 67 ER 189

2. H.R. Harmer Ltd., Re (1958) 3 All E.R. 689

3. Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, Ltd. v. Meyer 1959 AC 324

4. Shanti Prasad Jain v. Kalinga Tubes Ltd., AIR 1965 SC 1535

5. Rajahmundry Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. v. A. Nageshwara Rao, AIR 1956 SC 213

6. Bharat Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Kanhaiya Lal, AIR 1935 Lah. 792

7. Needle Industries (India) Ltd. v. Needle Industries Newey (India) Holdings Ltd.,AIR 1981 SC 1298

8. M.S.D.C. Radharamanan v. M.S.D. Chandrasekara Raqja (2008) 6 SCC 750: AIR 2008 SC 1738

9. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. v. Cyrus Investments Private Ltd., (2021) 9 SCC 449.

Topic 9 : Winding up of Companies

Winding up by the Tribunal: Sec.270 – Winding up by the Tribunal Sec.271-303;

Important Cases

1. German Date Coffee Co., In Re (1882) 20 Ch. D. 169

2. Seth Mohan Lal v. Grain Chambers Ltd., AIR 1968 SC 772

3. Aluminum Corporation of India Ltd. v. M/s. Lakshmi Rattan Cotton Mills Co. Ltd., AIR 1970 All. 452

4. Yenidje Tobacco Co. Ltd., Re (1916) 2 Ch. D. 169

5. Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited v. Union of India, High court of Karnataka, Writ petition no.6191 of 2021, decided on 28th April, 2021

Topic 10 : Adjudicatory Bodies

National Company Law Tribunal; National Company Law Appellate Tribunal – Constitution, Powers, Jurisdiction, Procedure, Judicial Review Sec. 407-434.

Important Cases

1. Madras Bar Association V. Union of India & Anr. Writ Petition (C) No. 1072 OF 2013 Decision on 14th May, 2015.

2. Embassy Property Developments Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Karnataka and Ors. MANU/SC/1661/2019

Topic 11 : Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Criminal Liability

Introduction to CSR; Need for CSR; CSR Sec. 135 under Companies Act, 2013; Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules 2014 (CSR Rules, as amended) and Schedule VII of Companies Act, 2013.

Best Recommended Books for Company Law

1. Paul L. Davies and Sarah Worthington, Gower’s Principles of Modern Company Law (10th ed., 2016/Latest edition)

2. A. Ramaiya, Guide to the Companies Act (19th ed., 2020/Latest edition)

3. Hicks, Andrew & Goo S H, Cases and Material on Company Law, Oxford University Press (8th ed., 2008/Latest edition)

4. Kershaw, David, Company Law in Context, Oxford University Press, UK, (2nd ed., 2012/Latest edition)

5. Avtar Singh, Company Law (17th ed., 2018/Latest edition)

6. H.K. Saharay, Company Law (7th ed., 2016/Latest edition)