Power to issue directions just grew

This power can be intoxicating. It can give any regulator a serious high

The power of the government to “issue directions” has made an entry into company law. The first step has been taken in Section 135 — the provision that seeks to change the regime from encouragement of voluntary expenditure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) into a criminal-sanction-based mandatory obligation to spend.  

This column is not about the criminalisation of CSR, on which much ink has been expended. Section 135 has been amended to insert a specific sub-section that stipulates that the “government may give such general or special directions to a company or class of companies as it considers necessary to ensure