Sushant Shukla

Blanket "fees once paid are non-refundable" policies are not the last word in Indian law. Section 56 frustration, the unconscionability doctrine and the Consumer Protection Act 2019 all bear on a participant who is medically unable to attend a paid event.

A resigned employee keeps the company laptop until dues are paid; the employer holds the settlement until the laptop returns. Indian law breaks the deadlock: property return is unconditional, terminal wages run on a statutory clock, and only documented deductions link the two.

Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1963 lets courts excuse delay for sufficient cause. What the Supreme Court accepts and rejects, how much latitude the State really gets, and what a delay condonation application and counter affidavit must contain in High Court writ proceedings.

A registered trust whose trustees are the company's own directors can lawfully implement CSR, but engaging a related business to run the activity sits in a regulatory grey zone. What Rule 4, Section 188 and MCA guidance permit, and where the enforcement risk lies.

Asset deal or share deal? In cross-border Indian M&A that one choice drives liability, tax, five layers of regulatory approval and the enforceability of every key clause. A 2026 playbook covering FEMA, CCI, SEBI, slump sales, indirect transfers, indemnities and arbitration.

Courier agencies are "common carriers" under the Carriage by Road Act 2007, which caps their liability, prescribes consignment paperwork and bars stale claims. A drafting-focused guide to liability, lien, indemnity, interest and stamping in Indian courier services agreements.

Effective contract review is a system, not an instinct: risk-tiered triage, position-based playbooks, structural audits of definitions and cross-references, and a new layer of verification for AI-generated drafts. A practice framework for commercial lawyers.

A landlord chasing a defaulting commercial tenant may eye the consumer commission as a shortcut. The commercial-purpose exclusion and the meaning of "deficiency in service" close that door - and GST's 180-day ITC reversal rule gives the landlord different leverage.

Companies that hire consultants to open government doors inherit their conduct. How to structure an Indian consultancy agreement so independent-contractor status, PCA and FCPA compliance, liaison restrictions and confidentiality obligations actually hold.

Family courts in India are not exempt from the Constitution. Here is how Articles 14, 15 and 21, the Family Courts Act 1984 and Supreme Court jurisprudence shape marriage, custody and personal-law disputes.

A stop-payment record predating the cheque, and a plaintiff whose pleaded cheque date differs from the date sworn in cross-examination, can rebut the Section 139 presumption. How the presumption works, how it is displaced, and why chronology and credibility matter.

Written grounds of arrest, a reasoned remand order and a produced arrest memo are not formalities. Under Prabir Purkayastha and Pankaj Bansal, their absence vitiates the arrest and remand, and the Sessions Court may grant bail under Section 483 BNSS (formerly Section 439 CrPC).

India has no distributor-protection statute, so audit rights, clawback of overpaid amounts, default interest and claim deadlines all stand or fall on drafting. How Sections 72, 74 and 28 of the Contract Act and the three-year limitation period shape enforceable clauses.

Order 38 Rule 5 and Order 39 CPC set a high bar for freezing a defendant's assets before trial, and Exception 8 to defamation shields good-faith police complaints. What plaintiffs must actually prove to win these interim remedies.

Section 482 BNSS 2023 removed the CrPC-era restrictions on anticipatory bail, but cybercrime accused face a countervailing trend: courts increasingly treat custodial interrogation as the default answer to pre-arrest bail pleas in digital fraud cases.

Kidnapping under Section 137 BNS protects children, not adults. When an adult wife tells the police and the Magistrate that she left her matrimonial home voluntarily, charges of kidnapping, abduction or trafficking against her partner collapse, and the Constitution forbids reviving them.

A company cannot buy a private university as a going concern. Indian higher education law requires universities to be run by not-for-profit sponsors, so the deal must be structured as an acquisition of the sponsoring trust, society or Section 8 company, subject to UGC, state and competition clearanc