All High Courts
Financing Charges Under FIDIC Contract Must Be on Certified Claims: Delhi High Court Allows Jal Board Appeal
The Delhi High Court has held that financing charges under a FIDIC-based construction contract can be claimed only on amounts that are formally certified or have clearly become payable under the contract, and not on disputed or unverified claims. A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla partly allowed an appeal filed by the Delhi Jal Board against a Single Judge order that had upheld an arbitral award in favour of Mohini Electricals Ltd., setting aside the...
Calcutta High Court Sets Aside GST Demand Over Reliance On Undisclosed Back Portal Data
The Calcutta High Court recently set aside a GST demand raised against a transport company after holding that the tax department relied on undisclosed back-office data.Justice O.M. Narayan Rai held that the tax department relied on “data available in GST B.O. portal”, leaving the petitioner without an effective opportunity to respond. The court focused on the manner in which the demand was raised in this case. It noted that the show-cause notices were founded on figures drawn from the GST...
Director Not Party To Company's Articles of Association Cannot Invoke Arbitration Under the Articles: Delhi HC
The Delhi High Court has held that a director who has neither signed nor is a party to a company's Articles of Association cannot invoke an arbitration clause contained in those articles. A single judge bench of Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said that arbitration requires clear and demonstrable consent. The court observed that "Thus, the mere existence of a document, despite it containing an arbitration clause, and persons, even if they are party to it, would not qualify as an...
Directors Not Criminally Liable For Company's Contractual Breach Without Proof Of Fraud: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has said that a company's inability to pay its dues because of financial distress is a civil issue, not a criminal offense. A director cannot be prosecuted for cheating unless there is clear proof of personal fraud or personal gain. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna quashed cheating charges against a former managing director of Creative Wares Limited, a manufacturing company that later ran into financial trouble and was declared a sick industrial company by the BIFR. The court...
Karnataka High Court Refuses Daughter's Plea For Parents' Interim Bail In GST Evasion Case
The Karnataka High Court has declined to grant interim bail to a husband and wife arrested in a GST enforcement action, holding that the case did not present circumstances warranting the court's intervention at the writ stage. A Single Judge Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna, in an order pronounced on January 12, noted that the court did not find any illegality in the manner of arrest and that statutory remedies for seeking bail were already available under criminal law. “Therefore, the facts in...
Limitation Plea Can Be Raised At Any Stage As Long As Facts Are On Record: Madras High Court
In a recent ruling, the Madras High Court held that a belated plea of limitation cannot be entertained where the factual foundation necessary to examine such a plea is absent on record. The ruling came from a bench of Justice Dr. Anita Sumanth and Justice P Dhanabal while dismissing an appeal filed by Modern Engineering & Plastics Pvt. Ltd. The court noted that "Normally, limitation, if it were to be a pure question of law may be raised at any stage of the proceeding, and it would not...
Calcutta High Court Removes Rival 'TANA TAN' Trademark, Rules Bikaji Foods Is Prior User
The Calcutta High Court has ordered the removal of the trademark “TANA TAN” from the Trade Marks Register. The Court held that the mark was deceptively identical to the long-standing “TANA TAN” trademark owned by snack food manufacturer Bikaji Foods International Limited. It found that the rival registration, secured in the name of Jagaranath Prasad, had been obtained in bad faith. A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur passed the order on January 7, 2026, while allowing a...
Bombay High Court Temporarily Bars Zee Laboratories From Using “GLYZET” Mark, Imposes ₹50 Lakh Costs
The Bombay High Court has temporarily restrained Zee Laboratories and its associated entities from manufacturing, selling or marketing diabetes medicines under the mark “GLYZET,” holding that the mark is deceptively similar to “GLIMET,” a registered trademark used by Laboratoires Griffon Pvt. Ltd. for its anti-diabetic medicine.The Court has also imposed exemplary costs of ₹50 lakh on Zee Laboratories for adopting the disputed mark in breach of earlier Court orders and for making false...
Bioreactor Invention Involving Human Embryonic Stem Cells Not Patentable: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has upheld the Patent Office's refusal to grant a patent to US-based biotechnology company Viacyte Inc., holding that the claimed bioreactor invention was primarily directed at biological material, including human embryonic stem cell-derived aggregates and therefore fell within non-patentable subject matter under the Patents Act, 1970.In a judgment dated January 16, 2026, a Single-Judge Bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur, affirming the decision of the Deputy Controller...