Yet another ruling on director liability

Unless the culture of compliance seeps into enforcement, judgments would be mere essays

The Supreme Court has spoken yet again — quashing criminal proceedings initiated against the managing director of a company that runs a hotel in New Delhi — about the liability of a managing director in a company charged with crime for no reason other than his being the managing director. Yet, whether this would lead to any reform in the conduct of enforcement agencies is a question that could end up being rhetorical.

The facts seem straight out of the movie October.  A visitor to the hotel fell from the sixth floor to the fourth floor. It was found that a