Supreme Court & High Courts
Commercial Courts Act | Institution Of Suit Means Presentation, Not Registration, For Mandatory Mediation: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court has held that the requirement of pre-institution mediation under Section 12-A of the Commercial Courts Act does not apply where a suit was instituted before the provision was declared mandatory, even if the suit was registered after that date. The court clarified that, for the purposes of Section 12-A, a suit is instituted when the plaint is presented before the court and not when it is subsequently registered by the registry. A Single Judge Bench of Justice Gauri...
Delhi High Court Grants Interim Trademark Protection To PhysicsWallah, Orders Takedown Of Disparaging Posts
The Delhi High Court has granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of PhysicsWallah Limited, restraining former employee and rival coaching operator Nikhil Kumar Singh from using deceptively similar trademarks and from publishing disparaging online content.A single-judge of Justice Jyoti Singh held that the videos and social media posts circulated by Singh are prima facie defamatory, disparaging, and abusive and are intended to tarnish PhysicsWallah's goodwill and reputation. Finding...
Bombay High Court Upholds ₹10.54 Crore Arbitration Award Against CADA In Beed Irrigation Project
The Bombay High Court has recently upheld a Rs. 10.54 crore arbitral award arising from delays in the repair and renovation of 19 minor irrigation tanks in Beed district, holding the Command Area Development Authority responsible for stalling the project. A Division Bench of Justices Arun R. Pedneker and Vaishali Patil-Jadhav dismissed an appeal filed by senior officials of the authority and affirmed the Commercial Court's refusal to set aside the award. The bench agreed with the arbitrator...
Customs Duty On Vessels Fixed On Import Date, Not On Foreign To Coastal Run Conversion: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court recently held that customs duty on a vessel is fixed on the date of its import and cannot be reopened later merely because the vessel is converted from foreign-going to coastal run. The court said a later change in how the vessel is operated does not create a fresh tax liability. A bench of Justice Anita Sumanth and Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar said the date of import is the only point that matters for determining liability under the customs law. “The critical event in...
Delhi High Court Moves Interim Relief Plea From Court To Arbitration Forum After Parties Consent
The Delhi High Court has moved a plea for interim relief out of the courtroom and into arbitration after the parties agreed that their dispute should be resolved through arbitration. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar was hearing a petition arising from a Memorandum of Understanding dated 3 November 2025 between IPEX Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. and Krishna Constructions, in which interim protection was sought. During the hearing, both sides told the Court that instead of deciding the plea on...
Delhi High Court Upholds Arbitral Award Ordering NHAI To Pay ₹12.18 Crores To Toll Operator For Revenue Loss
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a challenge by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) against an arbitral award granted to Kochi Aroor Tollways Private Limited (KATPL), upholding a compensation amount of approximately ₹12.18 crores.The award addressed losses KATPL sustained on the Edapally–Vyttila–Aroor road stretch in Kerala, specifically due to incorrectly fixed toll rates, delays in declaring the Commercial Operation Date, and the costs associated with issuing free monthly passes...
Supreme Court Slaps Rs 5 Lakh Costs On Union Govt For Stalling IRS Officer's ITAT Appointment
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a petition filed by Captain Pramod Kumar Bajaj, a former Indian Revenue Service officer and ex-Army personnel, holding that he was subjected to sustained institutional bias, mala fide conduct and deliberate obstruction by departmental authorities in relation to his appointment as Member (Accountant) of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. It also imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh on the Union Government for rank procrastination and deliberate obstruction in his...
Supreme Court Declines To Interfere With HC Decision Treating Education Consultancy To Foreign Universities As Export
The Supreme Court recently refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court judgment that had held that educational consultancy services provided by Indian entities to foreign universities qualify as exports of services and are not taxable as intermediary services under the GST law. A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed the Special Leave Petition filed by the Revenue. The Court also extended by two months the time granted to the Department to process the...
GST Not Payable On Transfer Of Leasehold Rights: Gujarat High Court Directs Refund
The Gujarat High Court, recently relying on its earlier ruling, reiterated that transferring or assigning leasehold rights in land is equivalent to the sale of land and therefore does not constitute a taxable 'supply' under the GST frameworkA Bench of Justice A. S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi was hearing a petition filed by Aquaeva Chemtech Private Limited, which had challenged the withholding of its GST refund relating to the transfer of leasehold rights in an industrial plot. The court...
Arbitration Law Bars Interim Relief Against Third Party Once Award Is Unenforceable: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Ningbo Aux Imp & Exp Co. Ltd. seeking interim relief against Vijay Sales, holding that such relief cannot be granted once a foreign arbitral award has already been found unenforceable against that party. Justice Sandeep V. Marne noted that the foreign arbitral award in the case was passed only against Amstrad Consumer India Pvt. Ltd. Vijay Sales was not a party to the arbitration and had already been deleted from the award enforcement...
Delhi High Court Upholds Injunction Over Mold-Tek's Tamper-Evident Packaging Patents
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld an interim injunction against Neway Industries over alleged infringement of Mold-Tek Packaging Limited's tamper-evident packaging patents and revived interim relief in respect of a second patent.A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla, in a judgment delivered on January 28, 2026, dismissed Neway's appeal challenging the grant of injunction over Mold-Tek's patent IN'417, while allowing Mold-Tek's appeal against the...