Balance Depreciation Allowed In Subsequent Year For Assets Used Less Than 180 Days: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on 2 March held that a taxpayer is entitled to claim the balance 50% of additional depreciation in the subsequent assessment year where new plant and machinery are put to use for less than 180 days in the year of acquisition. A Bench of Justice G. Jayachandran and Justice Shamim Ahmed allowed an appeal filed by Wheels India Limited against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal for the assessment year 2007–08, which had upheld the partial disallowance of the...

Delhi High Court Temporarily Restrains US-Based Company Spa De Soleil From Using 'Dermatouch' Trademark

The Delhi High Court has granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Cloud Wellness Pvt Ltd and its director. The Court restrained US-based Spa De Soleil Inc from using the trademark “DERMATOUCH” or any identical or deceptively similar mark. The Court held that the plaintiffs had made out a strong prima facie case of prior use, registration, goodwill and reputation in the mark. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela passed the order on March 20, 2026. The Court observed that the plaintiffs had...

DRT Has No Inherent Power To Refund Court Fee In Section 17 SARFAESI Proceedings: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has recently held that the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) has no inherent power to refund court fees paid in proceedings under Section 17 of the SARFAESI Act in the absence of an express statutory provision, even if the proceedings become infructuous due to settlement between the parties, ruling that courts cannot order the refund of a statutory levy unless authorized by law.Emphasising that court fees are governed strictly by statute, the Division Bench of Chief Justice...

Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Arbitrator Appointment In Gini & Jony–Benetton Dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by Gini & Jony Ltd. challenging the Delhi High Court's order appointing an arbitrator in its dispute with Benetton India Pvt. Ltd. arising from a distribution agreement for sale of United Colors of Benetton apparel products, involving an unpaid amount of about Rs 91 lakh.After hearing the parties, Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar dismissed the special leave petition and said: “After hearing the learned...

Delhi High Court Asks Patanjali's Acharya Balkrishna To Narrow Down Grievances In His Personality Rights Suit

Patanjali Ayurved co-founder and Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna has moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights against alleged deepfakes, misleading videos, and online misinformation. The court on Monday expressed reservations over the wide scope of the takedown relief sought. During the hearing, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that the prayers in the suit appeared overly broad and cautioned that a public figure must be prepared to face criticism, satire,...

Delhi High Court Rejects SpiceJet Plea To Substitute ₹144.51 Crore Deposit With Property In Dispute With Kalanithi Maran

The Delhi High Court has recently rejected a plea by SpiceJet Ltd. seeking to substitute the court-directed cash deposit of Rs. 144.51 crore with security in the form of a Gurugram property owned by the airline, holding that the request was an abuse of process as similar grounds had already been raised before the Supreme Court and rejected. Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order while dealing with applications seeking modification of directions issued on January 19, 2026, by which the...

Once Goods Found Of Indian Origin, Customs Seizure Arbitrary And Malafide: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has expressed surprise at the seizure and detention of areca nuts by the customs authority on the ground that they were of foreign origin despite one lab test indicating Indian origin and a government laboratory test failing to determine their origin. The bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Manjive Shukla was dealing with a batch of writ petitions involving seizure of the goods by customs authorities and held: “In such a situation, when the goods...

Bombay High Court Upholds PMC Bank–Unity SFB Amalgamation, Dismisses Challenges To RBI Scheme

The Bombay High Court has recently dismissed a batch of writ petitions challenging the amalgamation of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank) with Unity Small Finance Bank. The court upheld the scheme framed by the Reserve Bank of India and the notification dated January 25, 2022, issued by the Ministry of Finance approving the “PMC Bank (Amalgamation with Unity Small Finance Bank) Scheme, 2022.”A Division Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande held that the scheme...

Madras High Court Temporarily Injuncts 'Freedum' Oil Mark In Dispute With Gemini Edibles' 'Freedom' Brand

The Madras High Court has granted an ad-interim injunction in favor of Gemini Edibles and Fats India Ltd., restraining a Kurnool-based trader from using the mark “Freedum” for edible oils.In an order dated March 16, 2026, Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy held that the applicant had established a prima facie case showing the rival trader had adopted a mark deceptively similar to Gemini's registered trademark for identical products. The court observed that such intervention was necessary after...

Meerut Development Authority's Re-Auction Of Plot After Price Rise Arbitrary; Allahabad High Court Orders Reconsideration

Questioning the fairness of the Meerut Development Authority's actions in a land allotment dispute, the Allahabad High Court has held that the authority acted arbitrarily in cancelling the allotment and re-auctioning the plot after its value increased, and directed that the allottee's claim be reconsidered strictly in accordance with clause 6(10) of the auction brochure governing restoration of cancelled plots. Setting aside the re-auction and subsequent sale, the court observed that a public...

Contractual Disputes Involving Tax Compliance Arbitrable, Not Sovereign Tax Levy Issues: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has recently reiterated that while disputes relating to sovereign functions such as imposition or levy of tax are non-arbitrable, but disputes arising out of contractual obligations between parties, even if they involve issues of tax reimbursement or GST compliance, remain arbitrable. A bench of Justice Vikas Budhwar relying on rulings in Vidya Drolia vs. Durga Trading Corporation and other precedents, observed, "From the law laid down in the aforesaid decisions,It is...

Delhi High Court Records Interim Arrangement In Novo Nordisk–Torrent Pharma Patent Dispute Over Semaglutide

The Delhi High Court has recorded an interim arrangement between Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited in a patent infringement suit concerning semaglutide, a compound used in the popular diabetes and weight-loss drug Ozempic. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on March 20, 2026, recorded that the parties had agreed to an interim arrangement under which the Torrent would ensure that the concentration of a specific chemical component in its product does not fall...