Telangana High Court Restores Relief To Radiant Digital Solutions, Says Bona Fide Lapse Can't Deny Benefit

The Telangana High Court on 2 July held that a company cannot be denied the benefit of the concessional corporate tax regime under Section 115BAA of the Income Tax Act due to a bona fide delay in filing Form 10-IC, where it has substantially complied with the statutory requirements. A Division Bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Narsing Rao Nandikonda allowed the writ petition filed by Radiant Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and set aside the Income Tax Department's order rejecting the company's...

Madras High Court Directs SVLDRS Relief To SB Aditya Power Projects In CENVAT Credit Dispute

The Madras High Court on 25 June held that authorities cannot reject a CENVAT credit claim on a ground that was not raised in the original show cause notice, and set aside the order denying credit under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme (SVLDRS). Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy allowed the petition filed by SB Aditya Power Projects and directed the Designated Committee to reconsider the declaration and issue the discharge certificate after taking into account the Court's...

Wife's Failure To Disclose Husband As Home Loan Co-Borrower Not Material Suppression: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on 21 July held that a borrower's failure to disclose that her husband was a co-borrower in a housing loan could not, in the facts of the case, be treated as material suppression so as to deny her release of a property attached under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act. A Division Bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Kamal Khata quashed the order dated 25 November 2021 passed by the Special Judge under the MPID Act, which had refused to release...

Excise Evasion Prosecution Cannot Rest Solely On Departmental Proceedings: Himachal Pradesh High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on 7 July held that criminal prosecution for alleged evasion of central excise duty cannot continue merely on the basis of departmental proceedings, show cause notices or penalty orders, unless independent evidence establishes the alleged evasion. Justice Rakesh Kainthla dismissed the revision petition filed by the Excise Department and upheld the trial court's order discharging Seamx Industries and its directors from the criminal case alleging evasion of central...

Delhi High Court Temporarily Restrains NBFC From Using 'Zepto' And 'Zepto Finance' Marks

The Delhi High Court has temporarily restrained an NBFC, Naman Finlease, and its directors from using the marks 'Zepto' and 'Zepto Finance' for their lending business. Justice Jyoti Singh passed the ad-interim order in a trademark infringement suit filed by quick-commerce platform Zepto, represented by Senior Advocate Swati Sukumar. Zepto submitted that it is the registered proprietor of the word mark and device mark ZEPTO, a coined term with no descriptive meaning or connection to any...

PMLA Prosecution After Conviction In Predicate Offence Does Not Attract Double Jeopardy: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has held that prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) after conviction in the predicate offence does not amount to double jeopardy. It observed that money laundering is a distinct statutory offence and prosecution under the PMLA is not a second trial for the same offence.A bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna held, "The prosecution under the PMLA is neither the second trial for the same offence nor constitutional transgression. It is a...

Madras High Court Sets Aside Rejection of US Company's Patent For Pet Appetite Drug

The Madras High Court has set aside the Patent Office's rejection of Elanco US Inc.'s patent application for an oral pharmaceutical composition for treating chronic inappetence and chronic weight loss in companion animals and remanded the matter for fresh consideration.Justice K. Kumaresh Babu observed that while the Controller's order concluded that the claimed invention was substantially the same as an earlier invention, the analysis in the same order recorded that the invention differed...

Delhi High Court Restrains Havai Home Products From Using 'HAVAI' Mark in Havells Passing Off Suit

The Delhi High Court has restrained Havai Home Products Pvt. Ltd. and the proprietor of Advance Coolers from selling, marketing, advertising, or offering for sale electrical goods under the marks 'HAVAI' and its device forms. The court held that the marks are deceptively similar to Havells' registered trademarks. Justice Jyoti Singh granted the interim injunction in a suit filed by Havells India Limited. The Court found that Havells had made out a prima facie case of passing off. Havells, an...

Sale Certificate Issued By Liquidator In IBC Auction Exempt From Registration, Stamp Duty: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that a liquidator conducting a public auction under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) qualifies as an officer under the Registration Act. Therefore, a sale certificate issued during such an auction is exempt from compulsory registration and stamp duty.The exemption continues so long as only a copy of the sale certificate is filed with the registering authority. Stamp duty becomes payable only if the purchaser later seeks to use the sale certificate for any...

BoB Can Consider Company Promoters' Creditworthiness For Tender Eligibility: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has recently upheld Bank of Baroda's decision to disqualify Manipal Technologies Limited (MTL) from participating in a tender. It held that a procuring entity is entitled to consider the financial standing and creditworthiness of a company's promoters while assessing its eligibility.A bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha dismissed MTL's writ appeal challenging an interim order refusing to stay its disqualification from the bank's tender for...

MSCS Act Arbitral Awards Executable Under Act After 2023 Amendment, Not Arbitration Law: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has upheld execution proceedings initiated by a Sales Officer appointed by the Central Registrar to enforce an arbitral award passed under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002, holding that where the Act itself provides the procedure for execution, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, does not govern the process.Justice P.B. Balaji dismissed a civil revision petition filed by T.K. Kares, the judgment-debtor, who had challenged the execution proceedings...

AI Tool Has No Sanction In Law To Prepare And Issue GST Show Cause Notice: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently quashed a GST show cause notice after holding that it had been issued primarily by relying upon an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, the use of which was not shown to have statutory sanction. The challenge was founded on a document annexed to the show cause notice and uploaded on the department's portal. The document referred to various AI-based aids and included suggestions to "Tighten this further with case-law citation paragraph-wise", convert...