Promise To Arrange Funds In Case of Default Does Not Make Promoter A Guarantor: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India has held that a promoter's promise to arrange funds to help a borrower meet financial covenants does not amount to a contract of guarantee under the Indian Contract Act and cannot be used to fasten insolvency liability on the promoter. A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Alok Aradhe said that for an obligation to qualify as a guarantee under Section 126 of the Act, there must be a clear and unambiguous promise by the surety to repay the borrower's debt if the...

Delhi High Court Rejects Colgate Plea To Amend Suit Against Dabur Over Fluoride Ads

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to allow Colgate-Palmolive to amend its 2019 plaint to specifically challenge Dabur's later newspaper advertisements, holding that fresh versions of an advertising campaign do not warrant repeated amendments when the issue is already pleaded.Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, in an order dated January 12, 2026, clarified that Colgate's 2019 plaint contains detailed allegations accusing Dabur of spreading misleading information and disparaging fluoride as...

Employees Liable To Pay Tax Even If Employer Deducts TDS but Fails To Deposit It: Kerala High Court

Holding that employees cannot avoid their income tax liability merely because their employer deducted tax at source from their salaries but failed to deposit it with the Income Tax Department, the Kerala High Court has ruled that the statutory protection under Section 205 of the Income Tax Act applies only when the deducted tax is actually paid to the Central Government. A division bench of Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian madethe ruling while dismissing writ...

Contractual Bar On Interest Binds Arbitrator; Delhi High Court Partly Sets Aside Award In BHEL–Delkon Dispute

In a dispute involving public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the Delhi High Court has set aside a ₹66.50 lakh interest component of an arbitral award that had directed BHEL to pay Delkon India Private Limited. The court held that an arbitral tribunal cannot award interest where the contract expressly prohibits it, even if the termination of the contract is found to be illegal. A division bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Vinod Kumar ruled that the contractual...

GST Notices And Orders Issued Only In Summary Forms Without Details Are Unsustainable: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has quashed a GST adjudication order passed solely through summary online forms, holding that tax liability cannot be imposed without clearly setting out the allegations and reasons as required under law. A single-judge bench of Justice Om Narayan Rai said the manner in which the proceedings were conducted could not be sustained. “The order that has been passed and communicated to the petitioner has remained in summary form. It is bereft of any detail and sans any...

No GST On Assignment Of Long-Term Leasehold Rights: Bombay High Court Quashes Notice Against MIDC Unit

The Bombay High Court at Nagpur on Friday has set aside a GST show cause notice seeking to tax the assignment of long-term leasehold rights. The court held that such a transaction is a transfer of benefits arising out of immovable property and is not a taxable “supply” under the GST law. A division bench of Justice Anil L. Pansare and Justice Nivedita P. Mehta said the tax department had wrongly treated the transaction as a service. Agreeing with the Gujarat High Court in Gujarat Chamber of...

Arbitration | Mechanical Reliance On No Claim Certificate Is Non-Adjudication: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has recently held that mechanical reliance on a 'No Claim Certificate,' without examining whether the claims raised were covered by such document, amounts to non-adjudication.A Single Bench of Justice Gaurang Kanth in an order dated January 9 explained that the mechanical reliance on such certificates, without examining the surrounding facts and evidence, amounts to non-adjudication and renders the award vulnerable to challenge. The Court observed:“Even execution of a...

Karnataka HC Quashes GST Refund Rejection, Says Limitation Runs From Original Application, Not Revised Filing

The Karnataka High Court has quashed the rejection of a GST refund claim as time-barred, holding that the limitation period must be computed from the date on which the taxpayer originally applied for the refund and not from a revised application filed after a deficiency memo. The bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar observed that, in the instant case, the refund application filed on July 4, 2024 was well within the prescribed limitation period and that a subsequent application filed pursuant to a...

Delhi High Court Lifts Injunction, Allows Zydus To Manufacture And Market Lifesaving Cancer Drug

The Delhi High Court on Monday cleared Zydus Lifesciences Limited to manufacture and market its cancer drug ZRC 3276. The court set aside an injunction that had barred the drug's launch over alleged patent infringement of a medicine owned by US-based pharmaceutical major E.R. Squibb. A Division Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla modified an earlier order passed by a single judge. The Bench held that Zydus could not be restrained from launching a life-saving...

Bombay High Court Quashes Special Audit Order For Want Of Mandatory DIN

The Bombay High Court has held that an approval for a special audit issued without a Document Identification Number (DIN) is invalid and deemed never to have been issued. A Division Bench of Justice B P Colabawalla and Justice Firdosh P Pooniwalla allowed a writ petition filed by assessee Sanjay Nathalal Shah and quashed a special audit ordered for Assessment Year 2023–24 . Relying on a CBDT circular issued in August 2019, which mandates that every communication, including statutory approvals,...

Slayy Point' YouTube Channel Creators Move Delhi High Court Over Alleged AI-Generated Deepfake Content

Digital content creators Gautami Kawale and Abhyudaya Mohan, who run the popular YouTube channel Slayy Point, have moved the Delhi High Court seeking urgent protection against the alleged creation and circulation of AI-generated, morphed and pornographic deepfake content falsely portraying them. The matter is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday before Justice Vikas Mahajan. In their plea, the creators said they are widely recognised public figures with significant goodwill and an online...

Stamp Duty Must Be Refunded If Sale Agreement Was Never Executed : Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that stamp duty paid for a property transaction that never went through must be refunded, even if the application is filed beyond the six-month limitation period under the law. A single-judge bench of Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan said the state cannot keep money collected as stamp duty when no sale agreement was ever executed. “Stamp Duty is not a transaction tax but a duty payable on an instrument, which necessarily has to conform to the definition set out in...