Madras High Court Sets Aside Arbitral Award After Railways Unilaterally Appointed Tribunal

The Madras High Court has recently struck down an arbitral award in a dispute with the Integral Coach Factory after finding that the Railways unilaterally appointed the arbitral tribunal, even though the contractor had clearly objected to the process. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh held that the arbitral award stood “vitiated due to lack of jurisdiction” since the tribunal had been unilaterally constituted. The dispute goes back to a contract awarded in November 2017 by the Integral Coach Factory...

Ten-Year Limitation Bars Reopening Assessment For AY 2015-16: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court on 5 January held that a notice to reopen an assessment is barred by limitation if issued beyond ten years from the end of the relevant assessment year A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi was hearing a case which included four different but legally identical writ applications. It clarified that under Section 153A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the “relevant assessment year” must be computed backwards from the end of the search year....

Bombay High Court Quashes Order In Vistex ITC Refund Case, Remands Issue For Holistic Review

The Bombay High Court has set aside an appellate order rejecting the refund of unutilised input tax credit (ITC) claimed by Vistex Asia Pacific Pvt. Ltd., holding that the appellate authority must examine ITC refund claims on export of services in light of the full service agreement and relevant circulars before treating a provider as an intermediary. The Court observed that a selective reading of clauses is insufficient and that the matter requires fresh and holistic consideration in accordance...

Delhi High Court Refuses To Lift Interim Injunction On Mobile Brick-Making Machines In Patent Dispute

The Delhi High Court has refused to lift an interim injunction in a patent dispute over mobile brick-making machines, holding that while the rival machines are not identical, they appear to share the core patented concept of making and laying bricks as the machine moves.A Division Bench of Justice Dinesh Mehta and Justice Vimal Kumar Yadav pronounced the judgment on January 16, 2026, dismissing an appeal filed by Choudhary against a 2024 interim order passed in favour of SNPC, a Haryana-based...

Allahabad High Court Rejects Challenge To DRT Registrar's Power To Issue Notices In SARFAESI Proceedings

The Allahabad High Court has rejected a challenge to a notice issued by the Registrar of the Debts Recovery Tribunal in a securitisation case, holding that the Registrar was empowered under the DRT (Procedure) Rules, 1993. “When power to issue notice to a defendant has specifically been conferred upon the Registrar of DRT, it cannot be said that the Registrar has no power to issue notice to a defendant to show-cause as to why the S.A. should not be allowed, and also to caution the defendant...

S. 37 of Arbitration Act | Fresh Material Barred At Appellate Stage If Not Placed Under Section 34: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has held that parties to an arbitration cannot introduce completely new material for the first time at the appellate stage (Section 37) of arbitration proceedings if such material could have been produced earlier but was not placed before the court when the arbitral award was initially challenged (Section 34) The court emphasised that an appeal at this stage is not an opportunity to cure evidentiary lapses or supplement the record belatedly. A division bench of Justices...

Suit Liable To Dismissal Cannot Be Transferred To Commercial Division: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a 25-year-old suit between Tractel Tirfor India Pvt. Ltd. and Tractel International S.A.S., holding that the case was never legally pending and therefore could not have been transferred to the court's commercial division. A Division Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi ruled on January 21 that the failure to lodge a writ of summons, which is mandatory under the High Court's Original Side Rules, rendered the suit liable to dismissal in...

Kerala High Court Refuses To Interfere With NCLT's Rejection Of Resolution Plan Despite 100% CoC Approval

The Kerala High Court has refused to interfere with the National Company Law Tribunal's rejection of a resolution plan for an insolvent company, even though it had received 100% approval from the Committee of Creditors. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. held that the NCLT was acting within its jurisdiction in examining the resolution plan and that writ jurisdiction could not be invoked merely because the tribunal disagreed with the Committee of Creditors. ...

Minimum Import Price On Steel Notification Enforceable Only From Gazette Publication, Not Website Upload: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has ruled that a notification imposing a Minimum Import Price (MIP) on steel products becomes legally enforceable only from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette and not from the date it is uploaded on a government website.Allowing a batch of appeals filed by Viraj Impex Pvt. Ltd. and other steel importers, a Division Bench comprising Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe set aside the Delhi High Court judgment, which had upheld...

Council Members Changed Between Hearing and Award: Calcutta High Court Sets Aside MSME Award

The Calcutta High Court has set aside an arbitral award passed by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Facilitation Council.It held that the award in this case could not stand because it was delivered by a differently constituted tribunal than the one that heard the parties A division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi found that the dispute was heard over several years but the Council's composition kept changing. The members who finally delivered and signed the...

Failure To Provide Translation Vitiates Trademark Registration: Madras High Court Cancels 'THUFAN' Mark

The Madras High Court has cancelled the registration of the trademark “THUFAN” in Telugu and Tamil, holding that failure to provide mandatory transliteration and translation while advertising the mark deprived affected parties of their statutory right to oppose it.In a judgment dated December 12, 2025, a Division Bench of Justice Dr. G. Jayachandran and Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar allowed appeals filed by Kolkata-based fan maker Shambhunath & Bros., which uses the mark “TOOFAN”. The...

Bias of Even One Arbitrator Taints Entire Arbitral Award: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has set aside an arbitral award, holding that the bias of even a single arbitrator is sufficient to vitiate the entire award, even where the decision is unanimous. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said parties are entitled to an arbitral tribunal that is impartial in its entirety and not merely a neutral majority. Bias, the court held, violates Section 18 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which requires equal treatment of parties, and also goes against the...