Delhi High Court Refuses Stay On Encashment Of Bank Guarantees In Jodhpur Railway Station Redevelopment Dispute

The Delhi High Court has refused an interim plea under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act seeking to restrain North Western Railway from invoking performance bank guarantees worth about ₹17.24 crore furnished under a ₹474.52 crore EPC contract for the redevelopment of Jodhpur Railway Station. The court held that the contractor had failed to establish the limited grounds on which unconditional bank guarantees can be restrained.Justice Subramonium Prasad held that the contractor had neither...

Anchor Agrees Before Calcutta High Court To Drop 'First and Only' Toothpaste Claims In 18-Year Dispute With HUL

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Anchor Health and Beauty Care Private Ltd. have settled their 18-year-old commercial disparagement dispute, with Anchor agreeing not to advertise its toothpaste as the "first and only (Sirf)" toothpaste containing Triclosan, Fluoride, and Calcium or as India's "First All-Round Protection Toothpaste." The Calcutta High Court accepted the Terms of Settlement and decreed the suit accordingly.Justice Ananya Bandyopadhyay accepted the Terms of Settlement filed...

Madras High Court Directs Chennai Corporation To Reimburse Contractor's GST Burden After VAT Change

The Madras High Court on 7 July held that government contractors are entitled to reimbursement of additional GST paid due to the transition from the VAT regime to the GST regime if the change in tax law occurred after the award of contracts. A Bench of Justice C. Saravanan directed the Greater Chennai Corporation to reimburse the GST burden incurred by Sakthi Constructions for the remaining works under government contracts that were awarded before the introduction of GST on 1 July 2017. He...

SEBI Special Court Must Hear Accused Before Taking Cognizance Of Complaint Under BNSS: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on 15 July held that a Special Court constituted under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 cannot take cognizance of offences on a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) without first providing the accused an opportunity of hearing under the first proviso to Section 223(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which mandates a pre-cognizance hearing in complaint cases. Justice N.J. Jamadar quashed an order of...

Liquor Contractors Cannot Be Penalised For Supply Failure Due To Portal Glitches: Madhya Pradesh HC

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on 8 July held that liquor contractors cannot be penalised for the Excise Department's failure to supply liquor due to technical glitches in its online portal, observing that the State cannot take advantage of its own lapse to deny relief to licensees. Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt partly allowed a batch of writ petitions filed by several liquor contractors and directed the authorities to grant relief sought by them, while declining the remaining reliefs considering the...

Telangana High Court Holds Deferred Sales Tax Benefit Cannot Be Denied, Remands Krebs Biochemicals Case

The Telangana High Court on 19 June held that tax authorities cannot deny a taxpayer the benefit of a sales tax deferment scheme merely because statutory adjustment orders supporting the claim were not available during the original assessment proceedings, and directed the Assessing Officer to reconsider the claim after examining the subsequent orders. A Division Bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Suddala Chalapathi Rao partly allowed the appeals filed by Krebs Biochemicals & Industries...

No Fresh Notice Needed After Award Is Set Aside If Arbitration Was Already Invoked: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on 16 July held that a party need not issue a fresh notice under Section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (which marks commencement of arbitral proceedings) before seeking appointment of a new arbitrator after an arbitral award is set aside, if arbitration had already commenced through a valid notice. A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad rejected the objection raised by Sumant Aggarwal and others and appointed Mr. Kapil Sankhla as the sole...

Sitting Judge Moves Allahabad HC Against Denial of Exemption On Statutory Allowances Under New Income Tax Regime

The court called for instructions from the State on the plea, observing that the interim relief sought was in the nature of final relief.

Kerala High Court Directs SBI To Pay Interest On FD Subject To Auto-Renewal Under Its Own Circular

The Kerala High Court has recently directed the State Bank of India to pay interest on a firm's fixed deposit for the period between its maturity and May 12, 2013. The court held that SBI's own circular required the deposit to be automatically renewed in the absence of any contrary instructions.Justice M.A. Abdul Hakhim therefore, observed, "Ext.P18 Circular of the Respondent No.1 itself provides that on maturity, the Term Deposit is to be automatically renewed for the same period at the rate of...

Redemption Fine Under Central Excise Law Does Not Bar Sabka Vishwas Scheme Relief: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that taxpayers whose goods were confiscated under the Central Excise law and who were directed to pay a redemption fine in lieu of confiscation are not excluded from the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019.It ruled that they cannot be treated as ineligible to file declarations under the Scheme merely because they were liable to pay a redemption fine.A division bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Maneesh Sharma passed the ruling while...

Revised Return Filed After Income Tax Inspection Cannot Shield Dealer From Sales Tax Penalty: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has upheld Income tax additions and penalty against a dealer, holding that a revised return filed after an Income Tax inspection cannot protect a taxpayer from the consequences of suppressed turnover.It observed that a revised return filed after detection does not automatically establish bona fide conduct or protect a taxpayer from penalty."The revised return filed subsequent to Income Tax inspection cannot be a protection blanket for the tax evaders. Even if the Trader...

Madras High Court Directs GST Authorities To Adjust Tax Paid Under Wrong Head Instead Of Seeking Fresh Payment

The Madras High Court has directed the GST authorities to adjust tax already paid under the wrong tax head instead of requiring the taxpayer to make a fresh payment before claiming a refund. It held that a taxpayer who has discharged the entire tax liability within time cannot be penalised merely because the amount was inadvertently deposited under the wrong GST head.Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy disposed of the writ petition filed by SYA Homes and set aside the rectification order to the...