Madras High Court Holds Unreasonable Delay Bars Duty Drawback Recovery, Quashes ₹38.77 Lakh Demand

The Madras High Court on 7 July held that customs authorities cannot recover duty drawback benefits after an unreasonable and unexplained delay, even when the relevant rules do not prescribe a specific limitation period for such recovery. Justice Hemant Chandangoudar quashed the recovery proceedings initiated against A.Kiyasdeen, an exporter for recovery of Rs. 38.77 lakh in duty drawback and a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh, holding that the proceedings initiated several years after the drawback was...

MSME Award Can Be Challenged Without 75% Pre-Deposit if Nullity Is Prima Facie Shown: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that a court hearing a challenge to an arbitral award under the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 ("MSME Act") is not barred from examining a credible, ex facie plea that the award is a nullity merely because the buyer has not deposited 75% of the awarded amount under Section 19 of the Act. Applying this same principle, a Division Bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora set aside an ex parte award directing...

Bombay High Court Sets Aside Order Rejecting Naresh Goyal's Objections In Income Tax Reassessment

The Bombay High Court has recently set aside an order rejecting former Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal's objections to the reopening of his income tax assessment for the Assessment Year 2014-15. It directed the Assessing Officer to reconsider the objections after taking into account Goyal's March 8, 2022 letter and the annexures explaining the source of funds used to acquire Jet Airways (India) Ltd. shares. A division bench of Justice B.P. Colabawalla and Justice Firdosh P. Pooniwalla held...

Telangana HC Restores DBS Technology Services' Tax Deduction Claim, Says Technical Lapse Cannot Prevail

The Telangana High Court on 3 July held that the Income Tax Department cannot reject a genuine claim for deduction on the sole ground of a technical or procedural lapse if the taxpayer is otherwise entitled to the benefit. A Division Bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Suddala Chalapathi Rao set aside the order rejecting the deduction claimed by DBS Technology Services India Private Limited and directed the Assessing Officer to reconsider the company's claim in accordance with law. The judges...

Arbitration Act Interim Relief Cannot Be Used To Stay Debarment Based On Administrative Power: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently held that interim relief under the Arbitration Act cannot be used to stay a debarment order where the authority's power to debar is derived from an independent statutory or administrative framework rather than the contract between the parties. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar dismissed NCC Limited's petition seeking a stay on an Airports Authority of India (AAI) order debarring it from participating in AAI's future tenders for two years. The Court observed,...

Delhi HC Directs Reddit To Disclose Details Of Anonymous User Behind Samsung Galaxy S26 'Blast In The Box' Post

The Delhi High Court has directed Reddit to furnish the available particulars of the anonymous account behind a post titled "Samsung Galaxy S26 blast in the box" within three days. The court did not pass any immediate direction for removal of the post. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani was hearing Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s application seeking an interim injunction against an account operating as "Techtalkwithmalik", besides directions to Reddit and Instagram to take down posts alleging that...

Delhi High Court Restrains Former Geetanjali Franchisee From Using 'GEETANJALI' Trademarks

The Delhi High Court has granted an ex parte ad-interim injunction restraining a former franchisee of Geetanjali Salon Private Limited from using the trademarks "GEETANJALI" and "GEETANJALI STUDIO". The court prima facie found that the salon continued to operate under the brand even after its franchise agreement was terminated. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani observed that Geetanjali Salon had made out a prima facie case for interim protection. "Despite termination of the franchisee agreement by...

Corporate Guarantee Cannot Replace Unconditional Bank Guarantee Agreed Between Parties: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that a corporate guarantee cannot replace an unconditional bank guarantee agreed between commercial parties merely because a party is willing to furnish one, observing that the two provide different degrees of security. Granting interim relief to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC), Justice Amit Borkar directed Afcons Gunanusa Joint Venture to renew and continue unconditional bank guarantees worth USD 29.91 million, EUR 4.55 million and ₹22.09...

Merely Obtaining Municipal Approvals Does Not Establish Developer's Readiness To Perform Contract: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant interim relief to Jaycee Homes Private Limited in its plea to restrain Kurla Moon Rock Municipal Employee Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. from appointing another developer and to appoint a Court Receiver over the society's property. It held that obtaining municipal approvals under a registered development agreement, by itself, does not establish that a developer was ready and willing to perform its contractual obligations. Justice Amit Borkar...

Bombay High Court Declines Urgent Relief In Phantom Studios' Suit Against JioStar Over 'Queen' Remake

The Bombay High Court has declined to grant urgent ad-interim relief to Phantom Studios India Private Limited in its suit against JioStar India Private Limited over the film Queen Forever, which Phantom alleges is an unauthorised sequel to the 2014 film Queen made in breach of the parties' co-production and intellectual property arrangements.Justice Gauri Godse was hearing an interim application filed by Phantom Studios in its suit claiming 50 per cent joint ownership of intellectual property...

Allowing Group Company To Use Part Of Company's Premises Does Not Create Third-Party Rights: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that permitting another company within the same business group to use part of a company's premises does not amount to induction of a third party merely because money changes hands between the two entities. The court observed that payments between group companies may merely be internal accounting arrangements and do not, by themselves, create a presumption of tenancy or a commercial licence. Justice Sandeep V. Marne dismissed a revision application filed...

MSME Borrower Must Establish Status Before NPA To Avail RBI's Revival Framework: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has reiterated that an MSME borrower seeking the benefit of the RBI's statutory framework for revival and rehabilitation must disclose its MSME status to the lending bank. It must also produce authenticated documents establishing its eligibility at the time of availing credit facilities or, at the latest, before the loan account is classified as a non-performing asset (NPA). A division bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M., applying the Supreme...