Calcutta High Court Dismisses Contractor's Appeal In Arbitration Dispute Over Kolkata East-West Metro Tunneling Accident

The Calcutta High Court recently dismissed an appeal filed by a contractor, affirming a single judge's decision that had set aside an arbitral award arising out of the 2019 Kolkata East-West Metro tunnel accident. A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi held that the arbitral tribunal committed patent illegality by discarding expert evidence on the basis of its own technical assumptions drawn from personal expertise rather than material on record. The bench...

Bombay High Court Refuses Interim Injunction To UTS; Says Prior Registration Of Domain Name Is Valid Defence

The Bombay High Court has dismissed an interim plea filed by Universal Test Solutions LLP, declining to grant interim relief in a trademark, copyright and passing-off dispute against its former partner Punam Kumari Singh and others. In a judgment dated March 11, 2026, Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh held that the plaintiff had not made out a prima facie case to restrain the defendants from using the domain name uts-global.com, the acronym “UTS”, the corporate name ODC Universal Technological...

Gujarat High Court Sets Aside Transfer Of Income Tax Case From Ahmedabad To Rajkot Without Hearing Taxpayer

The Gujarat High Court has set aside an order transferring an assessee's income-tax reassessment case from Ahmedabad to Rajkot after finding that the transfer was made without granting the taxpayer an opportunity of hearing as required under the Income Tax Act. The division bench of Justice A. S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi held that in the present case the transfer of jurisdiction under Section 127(2) of the Income Tax Act could not be sustained since it had been effected without...

Delay In Commercial Appeals Cannot Be Condoned Routinely Without Sufficient Cause: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court recently observed that delay in filing appeals in commercial matters cannot be condoned as a matter of routine and must be treated as an exception only when the party demonstrates sufficient cause and bona fide conduct.The observation came from a division bench of Justices Anu Sivaraman and Vijaykumar A. Patil while dismissing a commercial appeal filed by the Union of India, represented by the Chief Engineer, Southern Railway. The appeal had challenged a July 4, 2024...

Bombay High Court Remands Pharmaceutical Patent Opposition, Sets Aside Patent Office Order As Unreasoned

The Bombay High Court has set aside an order of the Deputy Controller of Patents that had dismissed a post-grant opposition, finding that the decision contained no real reasoning and did not include the technical analysis required under the law. In a judgment dated March 10, 2026, Justice Arif S. Doctor noted that the patent office had rejected the prior-art claim relied on by the opponent without explaining the basis for doing so. The Court said that because the order was appealable, the...

Bombay High Court Dismisses Copyright Suit Over Films Manzil, Parwana; Imposes ₹10 Lakh Costs On Filmmaker

The Bombay High Court has recently dismissed a decades-old copyright infringement suit filed by filmmaker Rajiv Suri against Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. concerning the Hindi feature films Manzil and Parwana, characterizing the litigation as a “gross abuse of the process of law” and imposing exemplary costs of Rs 10 lakh on the plaintiff. While pronouncing the judgment, Justice Arif S. Doctor held that Rajiv Suri had approached the court with “unclean hands” by suppressing a Memorandum of...

Partner's Son Not Bound By Arbitration Clause In Partnership Deed: Madras High Court Refuses Arbitration In Trademark Case

The Madras High Court has refused to refer a trademark infringement and passing-off dispute over the snuff brand “J.S. Madras Snuff” to arbitration, holding that the arbitration clause in a partnership deed covering disputes between partners cannot bind a non-signatory merely because the alleged infringer is the partner's son. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy examined Clause 13 of the partnership deed and observed, “The language of such clause makes it clear that it pertains to disputes or...

Vehicle Possession And Document Transfer Concludes A Sale For Capital Gains Tax: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that delivery of a vehicle along with its original documents may constitute a completed sale for income-tax purposes, even if the registration certificate is not formally transferred in the buyer's name. A Bench comprising Justice C. Saravanan dismissed the writ petition filed by Dr. Arvind Kumar R. Shaw (the petitioner), upholding the assessment order passed by the Income Tax Department treating the sale of his Rolls‑Royce as a short-term capital gains...

Calcutta High Court Sets Aside Order Restraining IIBI From Redemption Of ₹221.08 Crore Preference Shares At 20% Value

The Calcutta High Court on March 12 allowed an appeal filed by Industrial Investment Bank of India Limited (IIBI). The court set aside a single judge's order that had confirmed an interim direction requiring the bank to set apart properties worth Rs 2 crore in a dispute relating to a resolution adopted in its 13th Annual General Meeting regarding redemption of preference shares. While allowing IIBI's appeal, the Division Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi observed: ...

Reassessment Notice Not Time-Barred In Case Where Delay Caused By Taxpayer's Adjournment Requests: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that a reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act cannot be treated as time-barred when the delay occurred due to adjournments sought by the taxpayer during proceedings under Section 148A.A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar dismissed writ petitions filed by two private companies challenging notices issued for Assessment Year (AY) 2017–18 on the ground that they were issued after the limitation period had expired.The...

Delhi High Court Restrains Kent RO From Using 'KENT' Mark For Fans, Notes Prior Use By Kent Cables

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld an interim injunction restraining Kent RO Systems Limited from manufacturing or selling fans under the trademark “KENT”, affirming a single judge's order passed in favour of Kent Cables Private Limited. In a judgment delivered on March 11, 2026, a division bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Madhu Jain dismissed the appeals filed by the purifier manufacturer and held that the cable company had shown prior adoption of the mark for electrical goods...

Penalty Order Is In Limitation If Issued Within Six Months Of Appellate Order: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on 6 February held that when penalty proceedings arise from assessment orders and the assessment is challenged on appeal, the limitation period for issuing a penalty can be computed from the appellate order. A penalty issued within the prescribed period after the appellate decision is therefore not time-barred. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy upheld a penalty imposed on actor Joseph Vijay under the Income Tax Act, 1961, observing that the penalty order dated 30 June 2022...