Litigation & arbitration

Naik Naik & Co-led Retailers Association of India (RAI) has lost the immovable property rentals’ service tax matter in the Bombay High Court, which upheld the union government’s power to enact laws to impose service tax on such rentals as constitutionally valid.

Exclusive: MDP & Partners recent lateral Ashok Paranjpe has won a Rs 15.77 crore ($3.5m) arbitration dispute for his long-standing client Tata Motors against the Gujarat Electricity Board, which its lawyers Little & Co will appeal in the Bombay High Court.

Exclusive: DSK Legal managing partner Anand Desai is defending Aamir Khan’s latest box office bonanza Delhi Belly against a raft of obscenity claims, of which only one has so far been served on the producer.

Exclusive: DSK Legal and Juris Corp through senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas have filed a winding-up petition in the Bombay High Court against pharma company Wockhardt, which is represented by Majmudar & Co and senior counsel Rohit Kapadia.

Exclusive: Delhi-based intellectual property (IP) boutique IP Gurus has acted for the manufacturers of Rubik’s Cubes resulting in police arrests of four alleged counterfeit cube puzzle sellers.

Exclusive: M Dhruva & Partners and senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas won an interim order from the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in favour of Ackruti City, allowing Ackruti’s promoters to pledge their own shares after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 2 December banned the promoters from dealing in their shares following allegations of price manipulation.

Senior advocate Fali Nariman led industrial house Wadia Group’s victory in a high-profile property dispute matter in the Bombay High Court against real estate developers G L Raheja which was represented by Bharucha & Partners and senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, reported the Economic Times.

Exclusive: The Bombay High Court declined interim relief in an action filed by M Dhruva & Partners on behalf of its client Crimson Hospitality Services against developers Lavasa Corporation, which allegedly violated a court injunction of an earlier public interest litigation (PIL).

Crawford Bayley and Amarchand Mangaldas have been duking it out in the Bombay High Court on behalf of expelled Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) respectively, with a ruling on an arbitrator’s interim relief expected this week.

Karanjawala & Company partner Manik Karanjawala is representing Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata who has approached the Supreme Court today about the Nira Radia tapes that he alleges violated his privacy, reported the Indian Express.

Exclusive: Naik Paranjpe & Co said it won back the 9pm prime-time slot for Viacom18 Media television show Bigg-Boss 4, following the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s categorisation of the show as an adult show after complaints of vulgarity, having pushed the show’s airing to the later 11pm slot.

Khaitan and Partners has acted for long-standing clients Jet Airways in a criminal action instituted against an individual who allegedly siphoned off Rs 2.07 crores from the airline’s account by seeking double refunds on the cancellation of 163 airline tickets.

Media law specialist Naik Paranjpe & Co has secured exhibition and distribution rights for multi-starrer film Action Replayy by winning a favourable interim order from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against six distributors for allegedly indulging in anti-competitive cartelisation practices.

Exclusive: Boutique startup Finsec Law Advisors has been drafted into the long-running MCX Stock Exchange dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that will again hit the Bombay High Court, alongside Naik Paranjpe & Co and J Sagar Associates (JSA).

Naik Paranjpe & Co has yesterday secured the scheduled release of Sanjay Dutt-starring Hindi film Knock Out for its Indian producer clients by getting a stay on the movie vacated after initial allegations of copyright violation by Twentieth Century Fox were heard in the Bombay High Court on Monday.

Khaitan & Co along with London-based marine insurance and admiralty specialist Walton & Morse LLP have settled $ 2.9 m dispute between Sesa Goa and a German Shipping conglomerate following an international maritime arbitration.