Madras High Court Upholds Closure Of Contempt Case After Arbitration Proceedings Were Allowed To Lapse

The Madras High Court has dismissed an appeal against the closure of a contempt petition alleging that a property was sold in violation of an interim injunction obtained under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. A division bench of Justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan noted that while arbitral proceedings had continued until 2018, the appellant had taken no steps thereafter to revive them. In those circumstances, the Bench found no reason to interfere with the order closing the...

Delhi High Court Sets Aside ₹126.77 Crore Arbitral Award Against NHAI Over Assam Highway Project Dispute

The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside an arbitral award granting ₹126.77 crore to a highway contractor towards costs and confiscated assets in an Assam road-widening project. The Court held that the arbitral tribunal failed to consider extension-of-time decisions that had rejected those claims. A Division Bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Vinod Kumar, however, upheld awards totalling ₹35.90 crore towards work executed under the contract and loss of profit.The court allowed an...

Cash Loan Given In Breach Of Income Tax Act Can Still Be Recovered: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court at Madurai has held that a cash loan advanced in breach of the Income Tax Act does not become illegal merely for that reason, and the lender can still seek recovery of the money. A bench of Justice G.R. Swaminathan and Justice R. Poornima was dealing with a case in which P. Palanikumar claimed to have lent ₹25 lakh in cash instead of through an instrument as contemplated under Section 269SS of the Income Tax Act. The bench held that while the Income Tax Department was...

Absence Of Signature On GST Assessment Order Renders It Legally Invalid: Andhra Pradesh High Court

On 15 June, the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that an unsigned GST assessment order suffers from an inherent legal defect and cannot be sustained in law, reaffirming that statutory orders must bear proper authentication to be enforceable. A Division Bench of Justices R. Raghunandan Rao and T.C.D. Sekhar set aside the impugned assessment order while allowing the writ petition filed by Nominee Works Committee Kalavalla and remanded the matter for fresh adjudication. The judges held: “This Court...

Kerala High Court Sets Aside One-Line Dismissal Of Cheque Dishonour Appeal, Calls It 'Shocking'

On 17 June, the Kerala High Court set aside an appellate court order that had dismissed a cheque dishonour appeal for default, holding that courts cannot dispose of criminal appeals against conviction mechanically merely because the appellant or counsel remains absent. Justice A. Badharudeen held that an appellate court must independently re-appreciate the evidence and pass a reasoned judgment while deciding an appeal against conviction and sentence. He held: “…a judgment in a criminal case,...

Madras High Court Upholds Release Of Vikram-Starrer Dhruva Natchathiram, Dismisses Financiers' Appeals

The Madras High Court has recently upheld an order permitting the release of filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon's long-delayed Tamil spy thriller 'Dhruva Natchathiram'. The court held that a judicially supervised mechanism governing the film's revenues strikes a workable balance between enabling its release and protecting competing claims over its proceeds. A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi dismissed appeals filed by film financiers K. Prem Kumar and K....

Deadline For Filing Evidence In Support Of Trademark Opposition Is Directory, Not Mandatory: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that the two-month deadline for filing an evidence affidavit in trademark opposition and rectification proceedings is directory and not mandatory, finding that the broader scheme of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, does not support treating it as an inflexible limitation period. "One must remember that the scheme of Rules 44 to 51 of the 2017 Rules are procedural provisions to aid in adjudicating the merits of Opposition Proceedings and Rectification...

Bombay High Court Temporarily Restrains Use of 'PIL-LINCTUS', Finds Similarity With 'GRILINCTUS'

The Bombay High Court on 15 June granted an interim injunction restraining Psychotropics India Limited from using the mark 'PIL-LINCTUS' for its cough syrup, holding it to be deceptively similar to the registered mark 'GRILINCTUS' owned by Laboratoires Griffon Private Limited. Justice Arif S. Doctor held that the competing marks were aurally, phonetically and structurally similar, with the suffix “LINCTUS” dominating the overall impression of both. The Court observed: “when pronounced, it is...

Well-Known Trademark List Not Immune From Rectification Proceedings: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that the list of well-known trademarks is amenable to rectification proceedings. It cannot be insulated from challenge merely because it is maintained separately from the Register of Trade Marks. Justice Arif S. Doctor, however, declined to entertain a petition seeking removal of the 'KEI' marks from the list. The judge held that the Delhi High Court was the more appropriate forum to decide the dispute. "....though prior registration is not necessary for a mark...

Unexplained Delay Bars Exclusion Of Time Spent Before Wrong Forum From Limitation Period: MP High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that a party cannot seek exclusion of time spent before a wrong forum under the Limitation Act if it fails to explain why it did not challenge the arbitral award within the prescribed period Justice Deepak Khot delivered the ruling while dismissing an appeal filed by Ashish and others against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The Court upheld an order rejecting their challenge to an arbitral award as barred by limitation. The court observed...

Karnataka High Court Quashes ED Arrest Of Gameskraft Founder, Says Arrest Cannot Spring From Ashes Of Old Allegations

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the Enforcement Directorate's arrest of gaming platform Gameskraft founder Deepak Singh and two company executives, holding that the agency could not justify their arrest on the basis of material that was substantially the same as that relied upon in earlier proceedings. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing petitions filed by Singh and Gameskraft executives Vikas Taneja and Prithvi Raj Singh. The court observed that the ED itself had...

Madras High Court Temporarily Restrains Telugu Dub Release Of Drishyam 3 On OTT Platforms

The Madras High Court has restrained the makers of malayalam movie “Drishyam 3” from releasing the Telugu dubbed version of the movie in OTT platforms. Justice K Kumaresh Babu made the interim order on a plea moved by film production company Rajkumar Theatre Pvt Ltd. The company had approached the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the producers and director and their agents, employees, assignees, licensees, and everyone claiming through them from infringing the company's exclusive copyright...