Sujata Balan

University of Malaya

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Papers

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H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

The Civil Consequences For Breach Of The Prohibition Against The Giving Of Financial Assistance: The Malaysian Approach

Australian journal of Asian law (2008)

Chan Wai Meng Sujata Balan

The prohibition against the giving of financial assistance by a company to persons who purchase or subscribe to a company's shares or to those of its holding company has, for a long time, been an important feature of company law. In Malaysia, this prohibition is enacted in s 67(1) of the Companies Act 1965 (Rev 1973) (Act 125). This article focuses on an important question that has arisen in Malaysia in relation to this section, namely, what are the civil consequences of a transaction that breaches the prohibition in s 67(1). Is the transaction valid despite the prohibition, or is it void or voidable? This article explores this question by examining case law and a significant amendment that was made to s 67 in 1992. It also discusses recent proposals that have been made by the Corporate Law Reform Committee of Malaysia to reform and modernise the law on this subject.

Law reform

Companies Act

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The Regulation of Directors’ Remuneration: An Overview of the Malaysian Position – Sujata Balan

Jernal undang-undang (2017)

Sujata Balan

This article discusses the laws and legal principles that govern the subject of directors’ remuneration in Malaysia. It examines the extent to which the Malaysian courts, companies legislation and shareholders of a company have control over directors’ remuneration and access to information concerning such remuneration. Importantly, this article will highlight and discuss the significant changes brought about by the Companies Act 2016 on this subject. Chief among these are the introduction of new provisions allowing members of public companies to inspect service contracts of directors and a new mandatory provision that requires the remuneration of directors in public companies to be approved by the members in a general meeting of the company.

Remuneration

Position (finance)

Listed company

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Malaysia: A Silent Voice in World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement – Some Legal Considerations for Future Involvement in Renewable Energy Disputes

Jernal undang-undang (2018)

Yasoda Wijerathna Sherin Kunhibava Sujata Balan

A comparison of the directors’ duties in the Companies Act No 07 of 2007 of Sri Lanka (SLCA 2007) with the Companies Acts of the selected comparative jurisdictions, the United Kingdom and New Zealand demonstrates that Sri Lankan statute has recognised the key fiduciary duties of directors in statutory form, similar to these comparative jurisdictions, except for the proper purpose rule that dictates directors must exercise their powers for a proper purpose. In this context, an inevitable question arises, whether the proper purpose rule needs to be statutorily recognised in Sri Lanka as part of a directors’ duty, one that is found in similar corporate legislations in other jurisdictions. It is this concern that the article addresses. It critically analyses the scholarly and judicial debate surrounding the duty of directors to exercise powers for a proper purpose. Firstly, this article points out that in many cases, the standard of good faith is applied to ascertain the propriety of purpose. It is argued that in such cases, the duty of proper purpose is adding nothing more to the duty of good faith. Secondly, the article examines the alternative judicial approach of considering the two as separate duties and analyses its weaknesses focusing on the tests employed in such context. Further, the article considers the opinion that strict scrutiny of directors’ decision-making through the proper purpose rule reflects the necessity to protect shareholders from abuse of power that existed prior to the introduction of statutory remedies for shareholders’ protection. It is demonstrated that the proper purpose rule appears to be redundant in the presence of the cumulative effect of the duty of good faith to act in the best interest of the company, duty to follow legislation and the corporate constitutions and also the discretionary remedies of the court to protect shareholders. This article concludes that recognising the proper purpose rule in statutory form in Sri Lanka is unnecessary and suggests that the suitable standard to apply for keeping the discretionary powers of corporate directors in check is the standard of good faith.

Standard of review

Scrutiny

Business judgment rule

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Adjusting the imbalance caused by the secured creditor’s veto in Malaysian judicial management: lessons from Singapore

Journal of Corporate Law Studies (2025)

Sujata Balan

The Companies Act 2016 introduced judicial management as a corporate rescue mechanism in Malaysia to rehabilitate financially distressed companies or to facilitate a more advantageous asset realisation, as an alternative to liquidation. A significant aspect of this framework is the right of secured creditors to veto the making of a judicial management order under section 409 of the Act. This article critiques this veto power, arguing that it creates an imbalance between secured and unsecured creditors, particularly in accessing the judicial management process. It also reviews legislative changes in Singapore related to this issue, suggesting that Malaysia should consider similar amendments to enhance fairness. The article advocates for adopting Singapore's approach to recalibrate the rights of creditors, which would promote a more equitable consideration of interests among creditors within the Malaysian judicial management scheme, ultimately benefiting the overall framework.

Veto

Realisation

10.1080/14735970.2024.2440946

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Rights and Liabilities of Scholars and Scholarship Authorities for Breach of Scholarship Agreements under the Contracts (Amendment) Act 1976

Jernal undang-undang (2006)

Sujata Balan

The purpose of this article is to examine and evaluate rights and liabilities of scholar and scholarship authority and remedies available to them in event of a breach of a scholarship agreement. The scope of this article is confined to scholarship agreements regulated by Contracts (Amendment) Act 1976 (hereafter referred to as the Amendment Act). As will be discussed at a later stage of this article, Amendment Act regulates scholarship agreements made between a scholar and Federal Government or State Government or a statutory authority or an approved educational institutiona under Amendment Act. Hence, this article does not cover scholarship agreements made between private bodies and scholars as these scholarship agreements do not come within ambit of Amendment Act. This article is divided into five parts. The introduction is contained in Part I. Part II of this article discusses position of law on scholarship agreements prior to passing of Amendment Act. Part II examines new scheme of law under Amendment Act and some of its vital provisions. Part IV deals with specific provisions of Amendment Act which relate to rights and liabilities of and remedies available to contracting parties. Part V examines how courts have interpreted and applied these provisions. Part VI then considers whether present law should undergo reform. Finally, Part VI contains writer's concluding remarks.

Ratification

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Malaysia: Principles and Procedural Obstacles

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2009)

Yeow Choy Choong Sujata Balan

The Malaysian procedural system is based on the English rules that applied prior to the 1999 reforms and the introduction of the Group Litigation Order in the latter. The representative procedure that applies is similarly restrictive and limited as it then was in England and Wales.

10.1177/0002716208328351

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The Limitation Period for a Fatal Accident Claim under Section 7 of the Civil Lawact 1956 of Malaysia: A Case for Reform

SSRN Electronic Journal (2012)

Sujata Balan

This article attempts a critical examination of the limitation period for a fatal accident claim brought for lost support by the dependants of a deceased person under the Civil Law Act 1956 of Malaysia. It aims to demonstrate that the said limitation period has caused, or is capable of causing, harsh and unfair results to litigants in Malaysia and that reform of the law is clearly necessary. Throughout the article, reference is made to the corresponding statutory provisions in the Civil Law Act of Singapore and where relevant, the proposals that have been made for reform in Singapore.

Section (typography)

Accident (philosophy)

Law reform

Reform Act

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Learning from the Malaysian Experience: Overcoming the Regulatory Challenges in the Nascent Takaful Practice Innigeria

Journal of Politics and Law (2016)

Muhammad Musa Saleh Sujata Balan Md Khalil Ruslan

The Islamic insurance (Takaful) introduced in March, 2013, was specifically meant to bridge the endemic insurance gap in Nigeria by engendering deepening insurance penetration and financial inclusion of the hitherto underserved and uninsured huge Muslim clientele. However, the Takaful Operational Guidelines and a host of other enabling insurance instruments are caught up in a web of regulatory conflict and ambiguity. The legal effect of this is a huge regulatory vacuum that is bound to impact negatively on capital investment climate, breed mistrust and uncertainty and discourage participation in the nascent Takaful industry. Nigeria would need to draw from the vast experiences of Malaysia in order to overcome these challenges. Nigeria and Malaysia are both former British colonies with diverse ethnic and socio-cultural backgrounds. They both practice divergent legal systems in a secular setting. Both have sizeable numbers of Muslim population. While Malaysia is considered the hub of Takaful practice in the world, Nigeria is just an emerging market in the now trending Islamic financial revolution. This paper examines the enormous general and regulatory challenges the nascent Nigerian Takaful practice will encounter in its quest to attain sustainability and vibrancy. The methodology of the study is both doctrinal and qualitative whilst employing non-random sampling technique. The study employs both primary and secondary sources of information and interviews where appropriate. The study finds the need for a review and harmonization of all the enabling insurance instruments in Nigeria, transforming the current business models and improving practices in the insurance sector to enhance the application of Takaful. The study recommends the enactment of a Takaful Act like that of Malaysia.

10.5539/jpl.v9n7p142

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The Distribution (Amendment) Act 1997: Amendments To Section 6 Of The Distribution Act 1958

Jernal undang-undang (2004)

Sujata Balan Chiu Mei Yong

In 1984, two academic staff of the Faculty of Law of the University of Malaya, namely Associate Professor P Balan and Rafiah Salim (as they then were), published a comprehensive article on the law of intestate distribution of non-Muslims under the Distribution 1958 (hereinafter also referred to as the Act) in the present Journal. In that article, the said writers provided an informative and critical account of the scheme of intestate distribution provided by the Distribution 1958 as it stood in 1984. Since then, the Distribution 1958 has undergone some important changes. These changes were brought about by the amendments set out in the Distribution (Amendment) 1997 (hereinafter referred to as Act A 1004), which came into force on 31 August 1997. This article is divided into six parts. After the introduction in Part I, Part II discusses the changes in the scheme of intestate distribution where a woman dies intestate. Part III deals with the changes where a married man dies intestate. Part IV is about the position where an unmarried person dies intestate, or where a person, though married, dies intestate without leaving a surviving spouse or issue; these persons may be a male or a female. Part B briefly explains the scheme of statutory trusts under section 7 of the principal Act. Although A1004 has not amended section 7 of the principal specifically, a brief explanation of the scheme of statutory trusts as set out by this section is pertinent to facilitate a better understanding of the operation of section 6, which as stated, has been amended in important respects by 1004. Part VI contains the writers' concluding remarks. Finally, for easy and quick reference, the writers have prepared as an appendix to this article tables which set out in summary, in relation to intestate distribution of deceased married men and women, the intestate distribution entitlement of the three main categorites of beneficiaries, namely spouse, issue and parents, both in respect of the law before and after the enforcement of A1004.

Section (typography)

Spouse

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The Public Authorities Protection Act 1948: A Case for Repeal

Jernal undang-undang (2007)

Sujata Balan

The Public Authorities Protection Act 1948 (Act 158) (Revised 1978) is a short Act containing only three sections. Its main provision is s 2 which prescribes a short limitation period of 36 months if an intended defendant is a public authority, and if the act, neglect or default complained of was done in the execution or intended execution of any written law or of a public duty or statutory duty or authority. In this paper, the writer attempts a critical examination of the 1948 Act with the purpose of highlighting its anomalies and deficiencies and to put forward a case for its repeal.

Repeal

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Citations (1)