HSCC MD Not A 'Civil Post' Under Union, CAT Lacks Jurisdiction: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the managing director of HSCC India, a government-owned company, does not hold a civil post under the Union and therefore cannot invoke the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal.A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan said the position was corporate in nature. “Having meticulously examined the nature of the post held by the Respondent No.1, and upon drawing a clear distinction between an employee of the Union and an employee of an...

Bombay High Court Sets Aside GST Order Passed Before Scheduled Date Of Hearing

The Bombay High Court has set aside a GST adjudication order passed even before the scheduled date of hearing, holding that it was vitiated by a breach of natural justice. A bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe held that the order was passed before the scheduled hearing date fixed in the show cause notice. “The impugned order, however, was passed on 30 March 2022 in regard to which, admittedly, no hearing was granted to the petitioner as also no opportunity to file reply to the said...

Bombay High Court Sets Aside Awards Against Stock Broker For Ignoring Claimant's Statements

The Bombay High Court recently set aside concurrent arbitral awards, holding that ignoring vital evidence, including the claimant's own statements, rendered the findings perverse.Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan heard a petition by Kantilal Chhaganlal Securities Pvt Ltd. The firm had challenged an arbitral award dated October 23, 2013 and an appellate award dated April 8, 2014 in favour of its client. Setting aside the awards, the court said: “That vital evidence that cuts to the root of the...

Service Of Notice On One Partner Deemed Service On All Under Presidency Towns Insolvency Act: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has held that service of an insolvency notice on a firm or any one of its partners amounts to valid service on all partners under the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909. The court rejected the argument that limitation should be counted from the last date of service on each partner. A single-judge bench of Justice Jitendra Jain was hearing an insolvency petition where the judgment debtors challenged its maintainability under Section 12(1)(c) of the Presidency Towns...

IBC Moratorium Can't Revive Missed Written Statement Deadline: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently held that filing an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which allows a defendant to seek rejection of a plaint at the threshold on legal grounds, cannot revive the statutory period for filing a written statement once it has expired. The court clarified that this position would apply even in a case where the defendant had invoked insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. A bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna...

Refusal To Produce Audited Financials Justifies Adverse Inference: Bombay High Court Upholds Arbitral Award

The Bombay High Court has recently refused to interfere with an arbitral award, holding that refusal by a party to produce audited financial statements justifies the drawing of an adverse inference by the arbitral tribunal. The court remarked that a party cannot selectively rely on tax returns while withholding audited financial statements and books of account. A bench of Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed: “As such, every business enterprise would have both sets of financial information...

Mere Filing Of One Plea Before A Court Doesn't Confer Jurisdiction For Subsequent Arbitration Pleas: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has held that merely filing a petition before a particular court cannot fix jurisdiction under Section 42 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, especially where the petition is withdrawn without any adjudication. Section 42, which centralises all subsequent applications in the first court approached, cannot be invoked in such circumstances as the jurisdiction contemplated must be “real, effective, and legally sustainable”, the court said. A Single Bench of Justice...

MP High Court Restores Suit, Says Bar On Unregistered Partnerships Not Applicable As Claim Not Made As Partner

The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur has set aside a trial court order rejecting a suit at the threshold, holding that the bar on suits by unregistered firms could not be invoked where the plaintiff was seeking declaration of his rights in the land on the basis of the money he had invested. A single judge bench of Justice Deepak Khot observed, "In fact, it is a case of the appellant that the appellant has invested money with defendants, who are said to be partners in the partnership firm...

Award Granting Statutorily Barred Relief Suffers From Patent Illegality: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on 18 March held that determining whether an arbitral award grants relief barred by law or beyond the contract is a question of legality, not of re-examining evidence. Courts can intervene under Section 34(2A) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 only if the award shows patent illegality. A Division Bench of Justice P. Velmurugan and Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi allowed Southern Railway's appeal and set aside the arbitral award that directed continuation...

State GST Authorities Cannot Detain Or Confiscate Goods Merely In Transit: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court held on 1 April that State GST authorities cannot invoke detention or confiscation powers for goods merely passing through the State in the course of inter-State trade, including on grounds such as valuation discrepancies or mismatch in quantity. A Division Bench of Justices R. Raghunandan Rao and T.C.D. Sekhar held that such action exceeds jurisdiction in cases involving inter-State movement under the IGST framework. The Court stated: "Amounts rightfully due to...

Delay In Filing Objections Excused Where Arbitral Tribunal Fails To Provide Signed Award: HP High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court held on 19 March that a party cannot be held responsible for delay in filing objections where the arbitral tribunal fails to furnish a signed copy of its award, despite specific requests. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, while condoning a 16-day delay in filing objections in the dispute between the Chief Engineer, HP PWD National Highway Division, Shimla, and Ceigall India Limited, observed: "This Court is of the considered view that the learned Arbitral Tribunal should...

Satinder Singh Bhasin Could Not Use IBC Limitation To Shield ₹50 Crore Bail Deposit From BIIPL: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday, while considering pleas seeking cancellation of bail granted to Satinder Singh Bhasin, rejected his contention that the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) of Bhasin Infotech and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. (BIIPL), of which he is a director, could not question the Rs.50 crore deposited as a bail condition due to the two-year look-back period under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.It found that the amount that had been deposited for securing the bail was sourced...