Merger control notice and disclosure rules: Supreme Court limits penalties, rejects reopening of approved combination, and sets aside adverse findings.

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....The Supreme Court held that inter-connected merger steps were adequately notified where the relevant agreements and their commercial linkages were placed on record and assessed in substance, so the transaction could not be treated as a complete non-notification. Section 43A could not be used as an omnibus penalty for alleged under-characterisation once a notice had been filed, reviewed and approved; any complaint of omission or false statement had to satisfy the specific ingredients of Sections 44 and 45. The Court further held that the post-one-year directions reopening the approved combination, keeping approval in abeyance and requiring a fresh Form II filing were beyond jurisdiction, lacked statutory authority, and in any event breached natural justice.....