Conditional Votes Cannot Be Treated As Unconditional Approval Of Companies Act Revival Scheme: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently ruled that votes cast “for, with modification” cannot automatically be treated as unconditional assent to a Revival Scheme under the Companies Act, 1956.The court must first examine the legal effect of the conditions attached to those votes before deciding whether they amount to approval of the Scheme.“A vote cast “for” the Scheme simpliciter expresses assent to the Scheme as placed before the meeting. A vote cast “for, with modification” is, by its very...

Delhi High Court Upholds Contempt Conviction In Siemens Software Piracy Case, Cuts Jail Term To One Month

The Delhi High Court has upheld the civil contempt finding against Nilesh Dhanukar for obstructing a court-appointed Local Commissioner during an inspection into alleged unauthorised use of Siemens Industry Software's “NX” software. However, the court reduced his detention in civil prison from two months to one month, citing his family circumstances.A Division Bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing Dhanukar's appeal against a Saket commercial court...

Delhi High Court Upholds Award Setting Aside ₹8.55 Crore DoT Demand Against Sterlite Technologies

The Delhi High Court has upheld an arbitral award in favour of Sterlite Technologies Limited, rejecting the Union government's challenge to an award that had set aside a ₹8.55 crore demand raised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).Justice Avneesh Jhingan ruled that the arbitrator's finding that Sterlite provided only passive telecom infrastructure, rather than unlicensed end-to-end bandwidth services. This, according to the court, was a plausible view that did not warrant interference...

Company's 'Fraud' Classification Doesn't Automatically Attract Penal Consequences For Directors: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that directors would not face penal consequences under the Reserve Bank of India's 2024 Fraud Master Circular merely because their company has been declared "fraud." The directors themselves must be declared “fraud” after following the procedure prescribed under the Circular. “Merely by declaring the 5th Respondent Company as “fraud” and the Petitioners not being declared as “fraudsters” by the 1st Respondent Bank would not visit upon them the penal consequences...

Advocates Acting As Insolvency Professionals Must Register Under GST, Pay Under Forward Charge: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Thursday held that advocates rendering services as insolvency professionals must obtain GST registration, ruling that such services are subject to the forward charge mechanism and not the reverse charge mechanism applicable to legal services provided by advocates. A bench of Justices Pratibha M. Singh and Shail Jain passed the judgment on a petition filed by advocate Kanwal Chaudhary challenging an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) order dated March 9,...

Himachal Pradesh High Court Quashes Electricity Duty On Self-Generated Electricity Used For Captive Consumption

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed Section 3(1)(xi) of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity (Duty) Act, 2009, to the extent that it prescribed electricity duty on electricity generated by consumers through diesel generating sets or any other mode for captive or standby use.The court held that the charging provision under Section 3 of the 2009 Act does not cover electricity generated by a consumer from its own source for its own consumption.The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur...

Punjab and Haryana High Court Sets Aside IT Assessment Order Against UCWeb Mobile During Pendency Of DRP Proceedings

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently set aside the final assessment order passed against UCWeb Mobile Private Ltd. while its objections to the draft assessment order were pending before the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP).The court held that the assessment violated the procedure prescribed under Section 144C of the Income-tax Act, which requires the Assessing Officer to pass the final assessment in conformity with directions issued by the DRP after considering the assessee's...

Bombay High Court Refuses EV Licensees Interim Relief In Arbitration Over Mumbai Airport Charging Stations

The Bombay High Court has refused to allow three EV charging station licence holders to restart their projects on Airports Authority of India (AAI) land in Mumbai, holding that such relief could effectively restore performance under license agreements that AAI had sought to terminate.Justice Amit Borkar observed that the interim reliefs sought under the Arbitration Act were mandatory in nature to a considerable extent and went beyond merely preserving the existing position. “Petitioners do not...

R&D Deduction Claim Cannot Be Rejected As Delayed When Audit Report Was Filed On Time: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has ruled that an application for the DSIR's report on eligible in-house R&D expenditure (Form 3CL) cannot be treated as delayed where the company had submitted the required audit report (Form 3CLA) within the deadline for filing its income tax return.“It must therefore be accepted that uploading of Form 3CLA by an Assessee to its e-filing account on the website of the Income Tax Department, on or before the due date of filing of the Return of Income, satisfies the...

S.147A Income Tax Act Challenge: Delhi High Court Orders Status Quo On Recovery, Penalty Proceedings

The Delhi High Court has directed that the status quo be maintained on recovery and penalty proceedings against two assessees who have challenged the constitutional validity of the newly inserted Section 147A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which retrospectively clarifies the role of the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) in reassessment proceedings.The division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta passed the direction while allowing applications filed by Neena Wadhwa and...

MSME Must Seek Rehabilitation Under 2015 Framework Despite Bank's Duty To Identify Stress: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that an MSME must itself initiate proceedings under the 2015 Framework for Revival and Rehabilitation when it apprehends failure of its business or an inability to repay its debts.A division bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. made the observation while dismissing Sree Matha Cosmetic Industries' writ appeal against SARFAESI proceedings initiated by UCO Bank.“While the Framework casts an obligation for the Bank to identify the incipient...

Telangana High Court Allows Retired Partner To Invoke Arbitration Clause In Reconstitution Of Partnership Deed

The Telangana High Court has held that a retired partner could invoke an arbitration clause in a Reconstitution of a partnership deed (retirement deed) because the clause covered disputes between the parties and did not limit arbitration to existing partners.Referring to Article 12 of the deed, Justice K. Lakshman ruled, “The arbitration clause clearly specifies that the disputes arising between the parties shall be referred to arbitration. It is nowhere stated that disputes between existing...