Nalsar Hyderabad won over UILS Chandigarh at the 7^th Nani Palkhiwala GLC Moot yesterday facing strong judicial challenges but boosting Nalsar by 15 points into second position in the MPL 2 rankings behind NLIU Bhopal.

Last year Nalsar won the MPL 2009-10 inaugural season by a large margin.

NLSIU Bangalore fifth year Varun Thomas Mathew won the best speaker award, while Government Law College, Mumbai and NLIU Bhopal won the best memorandum award and the best researcher award respectively.

This was UILS Chandigarh’s first appearance at the Nani Palkhiwala Memorial Moot and won the college eight points in the MPL 2 launching it into eighth position.

Nalsar’s team consisted of speakers Prateek Andhari and Shivankar Sharma who are in their second year, and fourth-year student and researcher Tarun Kovvali. “It was taxing,” mused Sharma shortly after the team’s win.

The moot problem dealt with double taxation avoidance agreements and the applicability of retrospective amendments in taxation laws.

Nalsar researcher Kovvali added that this was a particularly interesting moot, with one semi-final judge Pramod Kumar having handed down the decision in the original Linklaters tax case in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which was also at the crux of the moot problem.

NLSIU’s best speaker Mathew agreed that the quality of the problem was high and current, giving an excellent opportunity to study international taxation issues that would increase in importance ever more as India’s economy would continue to grow.

Army Institute of Law, Mohali and GNLU Gandhinagar had reached the semi-finals, picking up four points each in this Tier 4 National Challenger Moot in the MPL 2.

The final was judged by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna and Bombay High Court judges P B Majmudar and R M Savant.

Srikrishna in particular gave neither side quarter, interjecting frequently and humorously to throw the speakers off their scripts. “This is a foretaste of what will happen in a court of law,” he told counsel, adding that the judges would not just sit back and listen passively to submissions. “Ask any senior counsel worth his salt.”

The moot was organized by Government Law College, Mumbai and sponsored by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association, Mumbai and the All India Federation of Tax Practitioners.

Mooting Premier League season 2 standings

Legend: Pos (Position); W (Wins); R/u (Runner-ups); S/F- Semifinalist; B S(Best speaker); B M/R (Best Memorial/Researcher); HM (Honorable Mention & other equivalent awards); Pts (Points)

• Click here for the full break-down of competitions won so far this season by each college

You can contact the Legally India MPL team, which includes Sanjay Khan and Prashanth R from GNLU Gandhinagar on .