Rajasthan High Court Holds ₹45,000 Paid To Municipality Cannot Offset Labour Cess Liability Of Hospital

The Rajasthan High Court on 5 August declined to interfere with labour cess recovery proceedings against Saini Multispecialty Hospital, holding that payment of Rs. 45,000 to a municipal body could not by itself discharge the hospital's statutory liability under the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996. A Division Bench comprising Justices Arun Monga and Ashutosh Kumar at the Jaipur Bench held that the cess had to be assessed and deposited with the authority prescribed...

Official Liquidator Gets 3 Years From Winding Up Order To File Claim: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on 31 August held that a claim instituted by an Official Liquidator under Section 446 of the Companies Act, 1956, in respect of a legally enforceable claim is governed by the three year limitation period under Article 137 of the Limitation Act, 1963, reckoned from the date of the winding up order, with the benefit of the additional one year period under Section 458A of the Companies Act. Justice Harisankar V Menon rejected the respondent, Miny Zachariah's objection that...

Delhi High Court Refuses Stay On ITAT Order Directing Release Of ₹17.66 Crore Seized Cash

The Delhi High Court has held that the Income Tax Department cannot retain cash seized during a search once the assessment of the searched person is completed and the charge over the cash under Section 132B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 comes to an end. A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta made the observation while refusing to stay an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) order concerning Rs. 17.66 crore seized from lockers of searched persons Shakun Tamang and...

Delhi High Court Rejects ₹50.56 Crore Reassessment Additions For Want Of New Material

The Delhi High Court on 19 August held that the Revenue cannot revisit tax issues already considered while framing an assessment under Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, in reassessment proceedings unless new information or material comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer. A Division Bench comprising Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta made the observation while dismissing the Revenue's appeal against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) deleting two...

Arbitrator Can Award Escalation For Employer-Caused Delay Without Contractual Clause: J&K High Court

On 29 August, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh held that an Arbitrator can award escalation for delay attributable to the employer even when the contract does not contain a 'Price Escalation Clause'. Justice Shahzad Azeem upheld an arbitral award of Rs. 21.19 lakh in favour of a contractor, finding that the Arbitrator had based the escalation award on the Department's default in supplying construction material and supported the finding with evidence. The Bench held: “The...

Delhi High Court Refuses To Stay Black Money Act Prosecution Over Belated Retrospectivity Challenge

The Delhi High Court on 20 August refused to stay prosecution under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, observing that the Petitioner should have challenged the retrospective operation of its provisions when proceedings concerning the foreign assets first began. A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta heard a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 50, 51 and 72(c) of the Act. They observed: ...

Can ITAT Direct Amortisation Of Royalty Payment Beyond AO's Findings? Delhi High Court To Decide

The Delhi High Court is set to examine whether the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) could direct the Assessing Officer (AO) to conduct a de novo assessment and amortise a music licence fee when the direction went beyond the case originally set up by the AO. A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta admitted an appeal filed by Aalap Digital Music Private Limited against an ITAT order concerning Assessment Year 2016-17. The substantial question of law framed by the...

Patna High Court Says Permanent GST Registration Cancellation May Cause 'Civil Death' To Business

The Patna High Court on 28 August observed that permanent cancellation of GST registration may virtually result in the “civil death” of a business by preventing the taxpayer from carrying on business, while granting relief to Super Enterprises, whose GST registration was cancelled for failure to file returns for six months. A Division Bench of Justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Ramesh Chand Malviya noted that Section 75(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, requires the authorities...

Bombay High Court Quashes Reassessment Against Royal Chains, Says 'Reason To Suspect' Not Enough

The Bombay High Court on 24 August quashed an Income Tax reassessment notice issued to jewellery manufacturer Royal Chains Pvt Ltd for Assessment Year 2016-17. A Division Bench of Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Farhan P. Dubash noted that a completed Income Tax assessment cannot be reopened merely on the basis of suspicion about an investor's background, without material having a direct nexus with the particular transaction and the alleged escapement of income. It observed: “The connection that...

Delhi High Court Temporarily Restrains Alleged Fraudsters In Recruitment Scam From Using HCL Marks

The Delhi High Court on 24 August restrained five newly added defendants from using HCL Corporation's trademarks, holding that the company had made out a prima facie case of trademark infringement and passing off in a suit concerning an alleged fraudulent recruitment racket operated in its name. Justice Jyoti Singh extended the interim injunction earlier granted on 10 February 2026 after HCL alleged that the defendants were colluding with the original defendants to impersonate its...

Delhi High Court Rejects Reddy Pharmaceuticals' Review Plea In 'REDDY' Trademark Dispute With DRL

The Delhi High Court on 14 August dismissed a review petition filed by Reddy Pharmaceuticals Ltd., refusing to revisit its earlier judgment upholding a permanent injunction restraining the company from using the mark “REDDY” and directing removal of its registered trademark from the Register of Trade Marks. A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla held that none of the errors alleged by Reddy Pharmaceuticals (RPL) constituted an “error apparent on the...

Delhi High Court Rejects Trademark Appeal Over “DIGESTO PLUS”, Says Mark Common To Trade

The Delhi High Court on 20 August dismissed an appeal filed by Hahnemann Scientific Laboratory India Pvt. Ltd. against Meera Rastogi, trading as Hahnemann Memorial Laboratory, in a trademark dispute over the use of the mark “DIGESTO PLUS”. A Division Bench of Justices V. Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora held that the word “DIGESTO” is common to the trade and cannot, by itself, establish deceptive similarity between competing marks. It observed: “The commonality of the descriptive...