Cheque Issued For Another's Debt Still Attracts Liability If Dishonoured: Punjab And Haryana High Court

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has recently held that a person who issues a cheque to discharge another person's debt, including that of a spouse, cannot escape liability if the cheque is dishonored, even if the debt was not personally incurred by him, while upholding the conviction of two accused in a cheque dishonour case. A single-judge bench of Justice Subhas Mehla reduced the sentence of imprisonment to one year rigorous imprisonment while maintaining the enhanced compensation of Rs....

Bombay High Court Refuses to Interfere With Enhanced Compensation In NH-6 Land Acquisition Arbitration Case

The Bombay High Court has refused to interfere with enhanced compensation awarded to landowners for acquisition of land for widening National Highway-6 from Jalgaon to the Gujarat boundary, holding that no case was made out for interference under the limited scope of appellate review. Dismissing a batch of arbitration appeals filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a single-judge bench of Justice Arun R. Pedneker upheld the arbitral awards as well as the orders passed under...

Auction Purchaser Rights Not Absolute Under SARFAESI; Must Yield Where Sale Is Illegal: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1) held that the rights of a bona fide auction purchaser are not absolute and must yield where the sale process is legally flawed, as it dismissed appeals filed by auction purchasers and the Central Bank of India and upheld a Madras High Court judgment setting aside a SARFAESI auction sale.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma affirmed the High Court's April 12, 2023 ruling, which had annulled the auction after finding that the...

Delhi High Court Rejects Buyers' Denial Of Supply After VAT Credit Claim

The Delhi High Court has upheld a commercial court decree directing recovery of Rs. 8.89 lakh in a dispute over supply of chemical goods, holding that the purchasers' conduct in availing VAT input credit made their plea that the transactions were fictitious untenable. A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain said, “The claim of VAT input credit necessarilyproceeds on the premise that the purchasing dealer recognizes the transaction as a genuine purchase from the supplier....

Delhi High Court Finds Mehra Brothers In Breach Of Settlement Concerning SUPERON Trademark

The Delhi High Court has found that brothers Sanjay Mehra and Sharad Mehra breached the court-recorded Terms of Settlement (family settlement) governing the “SUPERON” trademark, holding them guilty of wilful disobedience of the agreed intellectual property and territorial restrictions.The findings came on cross-contempt petitions filed by both sides, each accusing the other of violating the settlement. Consequently, it directed both of them to comply with the requirements of the...

No Fresh Arbitration Maintainable On Same Cause Without Liberty To Refile: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a litigant cannot initiate fresh arbitration proceedings on the same cause of action after abandoning earlier proceedings, emphasising that such conduct amounts to abuse of process and is barred by principles underlying Order 23 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. A bench of Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe was hearing an appeal against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated November 8, 2024, which had allowed a fresh...

Delhi High Court Orders Rakshit Shetty's Banner To Pay ₹25 Lakh Over Unauthorised Song Use In 'Bachelor Party'

The Delhi High Court has directed Kannada actor-director Rakshit Shetty's production house, Paramvah Studios, to deposit Rs 20 lakh as licence fee and imposed Rs 5 lakh as costs for contempt, holding that the unauthorised use of two Kannada film songs in Bachelor Party was purposeful and not trivial. A Bench of Justice Tejas Karia rejected the studio's de minimis defence, holding that “the application of the 'de minimis' or fair use standard is determined primarily by qualitative aspects rather...

Allottee 'Very Vulnerable', Can Withdraw Deposited Funds Despite Pre-Deposit Requirement: Bombay High Court

On 30 March, the Bombay High Court held that an allottee can withdraw amounts deposited by a developer during an appeal despite the statutory pre-deposit requirement under Section 43(5) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA). Justice N.J. Jamadar dismissed Rare Township's (developer) appeals and upheld the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal's order allowing allottee Mitul Gada to withdraw Rs. 3,26,37,193 deposited by the developer. The Court observed: “The...

Clandestine Gold Transport & High Purity Satisfy “Reasonable Belief” Under Customs Act: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on 31 March restored the adjudicating authority's confiscation of 1,999.90 grams of gold, holding that clandestine transport and high scientific purity of bullion establish a “reasonable belief” of smuggling under the Customs Act. A Division Bench of Justices Rajarshi Bharadwaj and Uday Kumar allowed the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kolkata's appeals, reinstated the confiscation and penalties, and set aside the Tribunal's order that had granted relief to the...

Madras High Court Upholds Arbitral Award Granting Damages To Power Purchaser After Supplier's First Breach

The Madras High Court on 6 March, held that an arbitral award granting damages for non-supply of electricity cannot be interfered with when the supplier itself commits the initial breach of the power supply agreement by unilaterally revising the tariff and stopping supply without following the contractual procedure. A Division Bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and K. Kumaresh Babu dismissed an appeal filed by OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd (OPG) under Section 37 of the Arbitration and...

Supreme Court To Hear Anil Ambani's Plea Against 'Fraud' Tag Over Loans Availed by RCom, ADAG Entities Next Week

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week a special leave petition filed by Anil Ambani challenging his classification as “fraud” by banks in connection with alleged irregularities of Rs. 31,580 crores involving Reliance Communications and other ADAG entities.Ambani's petition challenges a Division Bench order of the Bombay High Court, which set aside an earlier interim relief granted to Ambani and permitted Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank to continue...

Cross-State ITC Transfer Cannot Be Denied on Amalgamation: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has held that Input Tax Credit (ITC) cannot be denied on the ground that the transferor and transferee companies are located in different States in a case of amalgamation. A Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi held, "The transfer of the ITC on amalgamation of the company is permissible as per the provision of Section 18(3) of the CGST Act read with Rule 41 of the CGST Rules. Neither of the provision prohibits or debars transfer of the ITC on the...