The Unseen Consequences of Oppression under Section 397 of the Companies Act

So I went to this court visit and we were sitting in on a case involving oppression of minority shareholders under Section 397 of the Companies Act. Our professor was explaining the concept and all that, but I noticed that the judge was getting all worked up about how the majority shareholders had manipulated the company's decisions. What really caught my attention was that the judge mentioned how the company's articles of association had a clause allowing the majority shareholders to pass resolutions by a simple majority vote, rather than the usual two-thirds majority required in other companies. It completely changed the dynamics of the case and made it harder for the minority shareholders to prove oppression. Turns out, our textbooks didn't mention this at all – that the AoA can sometimes give special privileges to shareholders, which can be a game-changer in cases like these.