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Areas of practice
Commercial litigation
Assistance in commercial disputes before the courts and tribunals in Delhi — from the notice that precedes a suit through to execution of the decree that ends it.
The work
Commercial litigation in India is, for the most part, contract litigation. The dispute is usually about what was agreed, whether it was performed, and what follows from the failure. My work covers pleadings and documents, interim applications, and appearance in:
- Commercial suits under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015
- Contractual disputes, including claims for damages and specific performance
- Recovery of money, including summary suits under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
- Applications for injunctions and other interim relief
- Property and possession disputes
- Arbitration-related proceedings, dealt with separately under arbitration
- Execution proceedings, and objections to execution
Two things worth knowing before filing
Pre-institution mediation
Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 requires a commercial suit that does not contemplate urgent interim relief to go through pre-institution mediation before it can be instituted. The Supreme Court has held this requirement to be mandatory. In practice this affects both the timing of a filing and the way urgency is pleaded, and it is a question to settle at the outset rather than after a plaint has been returned.
Limitation
Most claims founded on contract carry a limitation period of three years running from the date on which the cause of action accrued. The period is easy to lose track of during a long commercial relationship, particularly where partial payments, acknowledgements of debt or running accounts are involved — each of which can affect the computation. Where a matter has been left for some time, the first question is usually whether it is still in time.
Notices and pre-litigation correspondence
A significant share of commercial disputes are resolved, or materially narrowed, at the stage of a properly drafted legal notice. A notice that sets out the contractual basis of the claim, the specific breach and the relief sought does considerably more work than a general demand, and it becomes part of the record if proceedings follow.
Please note
This page describes areas of work. It does not offer advice, does not create an advocate–client relationship, and makes no representation about the outcome of any matter. Limitation periods and procedural requirements depend on the facts and on the forum.