Supreme Court & High Courts
Bombay High Court Restrains Unauthorised Use Of Actor Samantha Prabhu's Persona, Orders Takedowns
The Bombay High Court has recently granted actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu ad-interim protection against AI-generated deepfakes, morphed and pornographic content, chatbots impersonating her and unauthorised merchandise using her name and likeness.Justice Madhav J. Jamdar passed the order on October 1, finding a “very strong prima facie case” for restraining the unauthorised use of Prabhu's persona and directing the removal or disabling of access to the infringing content.Prabhu and her team...
No Timeframe For Cancelling Duplicate PAN Can Cause Hardship To Taxpayers: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has observed that the absence of a prescribed timeframe for deciding applications seeking cancellation of duplicate Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) may cause hardship to taxpayers, particularly in relation to filing Income-Tax Returns and availing services linked to PAN.The Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was dealing with a PIL seeking directions to the authorities to prescribe a timeframe for deciding applications for...
Delhi High Court Quashes Section 153C Income Tax Order, Says Satisfaction Note Was Recorded After Limitation Period
The Delhi High Court has quashed a tax assessment against a company, holding that proceedings initiated on the basis of material found during search proceedings were barred by limitation.The Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary observed that the satisfaction note in the case was recorded on June 25, 2021, corresponding to AY 2022-23, whereas the impugned order dated March 30, 2023 concerned AY 2010-11.Petitioner argued that the impugned order had been passed beyond the...
Punjab & Haryana High Court Lays Down Guidelines For ITC Reversal Where Supplier Fails To Deposit GST
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the constitutional validity of Section 16(2)(c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act but held that the provision cannot be used mechanically to make a purchasing dealer reverse input tax credit (ITC) merely because the selling dealer failed to deposit tax with the government.A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor held that Section 16(2)(c), read with Section 155, cannot be treated as a...
Gujarat High Court Rejects Writ Plea, Finds GST Officer Was Authorised To Verify Vehicle Carrying Goods
The Gujarat High Court has rejected Shreeji Steel's writ challenge to GST confiscation proceedings after finding that the officer who physically verified its vehicle was authorised under Rule 138B of the CGST Rules.A bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati also held that the company had an alternative statutory remedy of appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act. The court observed, “Upon examination of the documents on record, we find that there is no violation of the said...
Gujarat High Court Upholds ₹23.77 Crore Income Tax Relief For Adani Infrastructure Services
The Gujarat High Court has ruled in favour of Adani Infrastructure Services Pvt. Ltd., upholding the deletion of a ₹23.77 crore income tax disallowance. The court found that the company's interest income exceeded its interest expenditure and that the borrowed funds were advanced in a back-to-back transaction.The dispute concerned a disallowance under Section 14A of the Income Tax Act read with Rule 8D(2)(ii). Section 14A deals with expenditure incurred in relation to income that does not form...
Patent Revocation Can Be Sought Independently Or By Counter Claim, Cannot Be Curtailed: Madras High Court
The Madras High court has ruled that a party facing a patent infringement suit can seek revocation of the patent either through a separate revocation petition or by filing a counterclaim in the infringement suit. It cannot be forced to pursue only the counter claim.“This statutory right cannot be whittled down by forcing the litigant to choose a remedy by only filing a counter claim,” Justice K. Kumaresh Babu observed. “Such statutory rights available to the litigant cannot be curtailed to the...
Secured Creditor Cannot Seek Removal Of Disclosed Encumbrances Without Settling Dues: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court has held that priority given to secured creditors over government dues under the SARFAESI Act does not allow a bank or auction purchaser to seek removal of known encumbrances without complying with Rules 9(6) to 9(10) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002.Rule 9(6) deals with confirmation of the sale and issuance of the sale certificate, while Rule 9(10) prescribes the contents/ form of the sale certificate, including the details of known encumbrances.A coram...
Madras High Court Refuses To Restrain Worldwide Release Of Hindi 'Drishyam 3,' Finds Remake Rights Disputed
The Madras High Court has recently refused to restrain the worldwide release and exploitation of the Hindi remake of Malayalam film Drishyam 3, starring Ajay Devgn. It held that Rajkumar Theatres had not clearly established that it continued to hold an exclusive or joint copyright in the Hindi remake rights.Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi dismissed Rajkumar Theatres' application on October 1, 2026. The company had sought interim protection against the film's release pending...
SARFAESI | Civil Court Must Lift Property Attachment If Mortgage Predates It: Kerala High Court
The Kerala High Court has ruled that a civil court cannot refuse to consider a secured creditor's request to lift an attachment over a mortgaged property merely because the attachment would otherwise be effaced after publication of a SARFAESI sale notice. The court held that where the mortgage predates the attachment, the attachment must be lifted. “Once the secured creditor approaches the Civil Court with an application for lifting the attachment in accordance with the principles laid down...
Municipal Commissioner Cannot Alter Property-Tax Categories Without State Sanction: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court has ruled that a Municipal Commissioner cannot use a carpet-area cut-off to move commercial properties from one property-tax category to another without prior State Government approval.A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati quashed a March 27, 2015, office order issued by the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation, which treated shops and showrooms with a carpet area of more than 35 square metres as NU-1 properties. NU-1 properties carry a...
NHAI Cannot Take Technical Ground Against Landowners, Having Knowledge Of Arbitration Proceedings: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court has restored arbitral awards enhancing compensation for land acquired for a national highway, holding that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could not rely on a technical objection over notice despite having knowledge of the arbitration proceedings. The court questioned why NHAI had remained a “lame duck” despite knowing about the proceedings and held that a public authority could not take such a technical ground to deny landowners their rights under Article...