Sharan H. Jagtiani SA*

Sharan appears in a variety of disputes in the Bombay High Court in relation to arbitration and has 39 reported judgments as arguing counsel and 16 reported judgments as assisting counsel in this field. He has also been appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court hearing a challenge to an arbitral award. Sharan has acted as arbitrator and counsel in domestic and international arbitrations.

Cases of note (Counsel):

International Chamber of Commerce: 

• Joint Venture dispute relating to exercise of exit rights by a Mauritius based fund / investor for an investment made in a popular online matrimonial business and related proceedings before the Courts at Singapore and Mumbai pertaining to, amongst other things, arbitrability of oppression and mismanagement disputes pending before the NCLT
• Supply and installation of power plant related equipment in respect of wind energy power generation units / plants

Singapore International Arbitration Centre: 

• Claims relating to disputes between stock exchanges under index licensing agreements
• Indemnity claims arising from breach of representations relating to designation of use of land forming part of the factory under a share purchase agreement
• Disputes relating to exercise of drag along rights as between an Indian shareholder and a Thai partner in respect of shares of a company based in Thailand that manufactures automotive parts
• Resisting a claim by a foreign investor for enforcement of put options on the grounds of violation of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and other Indian securities laws

London Court of International Arbitration

• Claims made by a national cricket board against a production company arising from the withdrawal by the production company citing terrorist attacks and invoking the defence of force-majeure
• Disputes arising from commercial contracts relating to fasteners and similar industrial equipment

Others

• Represented the Office of the Court Receiver, High Court, Bombay on an important question of law, namely the power of an arbitral tribunal to direct the appointment of the Court Receiver, High Court, Bombay
• Several arbitrations relating to exit rights / enforcement of put options by foreign investors against promoters and the target company including questions of legal enforceability and valuation 

Arbitrator Appointments

• Appointed as arbitrator by the Supreme Court in an international commercial arbitration 
• Appointed as arbitrator by the Bombay High Court in over 15 ad-hoc arbitrations
• Appointed as arbitrator by the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA)

Sharan has appeared in a plethora of commercial disputes before the Bombay High Court including in matters relating shareholder and joint-venture disputes, foreign investment disputes involving enforcement of investor rights, real estate litigation, actions for recovery of debts and claims for damages arising from breach of contract, disputes relating to specific performance of contracts.

Cases of note:

• Appeared for developers and flat purchasers in disputes relating to contractual disputes under flat purchase agreements regulated by beneficial legislation (MOFA and RERA)
• Appeared in dispute relating to joint development of property and enforcement of rights against third party assignees
• Appeared for a leading commercial bank in a dispute relating to priority in payment from proceeds of substitution of the concessionaire in a national road-tollway project
• Appeared in a dispute between a licensor and licensee of commercial premises which raises the issue of whether the unpaid amount of license fees for the balance lock in period amounts to a contractual debt on which a company petition for winding up is maintainable or a claim in damages / liquidated damages
• Appeared in an insurance dispute involving interpretation of the time limit for filing a written statement of defence under the Indian Civil Procedure Code, 1908 amended in 2015 by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 in respect of proceedings filed before the enactment of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015
• Appeared for members of royal family of Kuwait in a claim of trespass of immovable property which also raised issues of proper verification of pleadings by an authorized representative of the plaintiff / members of the royal family
• Appeared for an Indian party seeking execution of a decree against assets of the Government of Iran in India
• Appeared for a party seeking anti-suit injunction against against a Russian state-owned entity in respect of proceedings initiated in Moscow
• Appears regularly in recovery proceedings which include important questions of commercial law have been considered such as the effect of a moratorium against a company on recovery under a personal guarantee given by promoters and directors of a company
   

Sharan appears on behalf of operational creditors, financial creditors, corporate debtors, resolution professionals, liquidators and other stakeholders in corporate insolvency or liquidation proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal. Sharan has also appeared in heavily contested disputes relating to oppression of shareholder rights and mismanagement of company affairs before the erstwhile Company Law Board and the present National Company Law Tribunal. Sharan is frequently briefed by the office of the Official Liquidator, High Court, Bombay.

Cases of note:

• Appeared in an oppression and mismanagement dispute between the minority and majority shareholders of one of the largest Indian corporate groups
• Appointed as amicus curiae to assist the Court in determining whether leave under Section 446 of the Companies Act, 1956, is required to be taken for proceedings under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 against the Company (in liquidation)
• Appointed as amicus curiae to assist the Court with respect to the legal and statutory powers vested in the Company Court to order a deposit towards advertisement and publication of a Company Petition
• Appeared in a dispute between the licensor and licensee of a large commercial premises on the scope of a lock-in clause and nature of liability on account of premature termination of a license during the lock-in period
• Regularly represent the Official Liquidator, Bombay High Court in company matters before the Bombay High Court
• Appeared on behalf of a Slovakian co. seeking to establish that proceeds of a wrongfully invoked guarantee do not constitute assets of a company. in liquidation available as part of the general pool of assets
• Amongst a team of lawyers representing the majority shareholder in an oppression and mismanagement dispute before the erstwhile Company Law Board that raised various complex questions of quasi-partnership, family companies, unlocking of inter-company cross holdings, amongst others
   

Sharan has appeared in various matters filed in the Bombay High Court relating to drug price control orders, tenders, government contracts, challenges to wilful defaulter proceedings and look out circulars, requisition of premises, actions by local town planning and other statutory authorities in relation to land and buildings, local town planning rules and regulations and redevelopment of property.

Cases of note:

• Appointed as amicus curiae by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in a suo moto public interest litigation where the court took cognizance of loss of life and property caused by collapse of unauthorized, dangerous, and dilapidated buildings across the State of Maharashtra
• Appointed as amicus curiae by the Bombay High Court in a Petition filed by local fishing communities whose traditional fishing activities are affected by the construction of an infrastructure project over a creek in Thane, Maharashtra
• Appointed as amicus curiae by the Bombay High Court in a Petition filed by persons above the age of 65 years who challenged covid-19 restrictions which prohibited persons above the age of 65 from physically attending venues for shooting of films and television shows
• Appointed as amicus curiae by the Bombay High Court in a Petition filed by practicing valuers challenged a decision taken by the State Bank of India introducing stringent indemnity requirements from valuers engaged in providing valuation reports for loan transactions
• Appointed as amicus curiae by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in a Petition filed as a public interest litigation for issuance of prerogative writs to decongest arterial roads of Mumbai and formulate a comprehensive parking policy
• Appeared on behalf of retail bond holders challenging the decision of an RBI appointed administrator of a large commercial bank to write down the bonds as part of a financial restructuring of the bank
• Appeared on behalf of statutory development authority on the question of applicability of the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act to land and premises owned by the authority
• Appeared on behalf of a religious minority trust challenging orders of the special land acquisition officer raising issues of the procedure for acquisition of land under special local housing and area development legislation
• Appeared on behalf of an American aviation company seeking court directions against the civil aviation regulator for change in registration of an auctioned aircraft
• Appeared on behalf of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority on the question of proper procedure to be followed for termination of development rights and in particular raising issues as to the principles of natural justice to be applied and followed in such matters
   

Sharan appears in several intellectual property disputes across patent, trademarks, copyright, and design law.

• Appeared in a patent infringement claim made by the proprietor of a patent which rapidly detects and prevents fire in electric transformers used by power generation and transmission companies
• Appeared in a trademark infringement dispute between two financial technology unicorns relating to the mark of their payment gateway services
• Appeared in a trademark infringement dispute between distillers of whiskey
• Appeared in a trademark infringement and passing off dispute between an entertainment services business and a entertainment driven social media networking platform who has adopted a phonetically similar mark
• Appeared in a trade mark dispute concerning a well-known mark of a popular restaurant in South Mumbai
• Appeared in copyright infringement suits filed against lounges and hotels by owners / assignees of public performance rights in songs assigned by various music labels. The larger issue / point of law involved is whether such assignees can conduct such business of issuing licenses without being registered as a copyright society
• Appears in a design infringement claim made by a leading manufacturer of shavers and trimmers against another established Indian brand
• Appeared in various copyright infringement claims filed by authors of copyright in a variety of works against producers of cinematograph films and works on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Hotstar etc. 
• Appeared in copyright infringement action filed by the author of the script of a popular cinematograph film against the remake of that work
• Appeared in a copyright infringement action filed by the author of a book challenging the cinematographic adaptation of the work in a Bollywood movie. The judgment analyzes the idea-expression dichotomy, the scènes à faire doctrine
• Appeared in a copyright infringement action filed by the author of a script against the producers of a Bollywood film where the allegation is that the script was shared in confidence and the movie is unauthorizedly based on that script

Sharan appears before the Securities Appellate Tribunal and before the adjudicating officers or whole-time members of the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in proceedings challenging orders passed by SEBI. Sharan also appears in the Bombay High Court in writ petitions filed relating to securities law.

Sharan has frequently represented the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) and the Conservation Action Trust (CAT) in relation to important environmental issues such as the redevelopment of mill lands in Mumbai, challenges (from an environmental and town planning perspective) to various statutory schemes for redevelopment of land, protection of mangroves throughout the State of Maharashtra, challenges to mining of minor minerals etc. Since 2010, the appearances on behalf of BEAG and CAT have been on a pro-bono basis.

Cases of note:

• Appeared in a challenge in relation to land redevelopment matter in Central Mumbai where the challenge is premised on the doctrine of public trust, non-compliance with mandatory environmental impact assessment norms and other town planning / environmental principles
• Appeared in a challenge to the redevelopment of large tracts of erstwhile cotton mill lands in Central Mumbai which were allowed to be redeveloped, with the dispute pertaining to the extent of such lands that were required to be kept open as public green spaces and for public amenities on the one hand versus permissible commercial and residential development on the other hand
• Appeared in a challenge pertaining to enforcement of various environmental legislations to ensure the protection and preservation of mangroves throughout the State of Maharashtra
• Appears in a challenge to redevelopment regulations applicable to dilapidated buildings on the ground that such redevelopment is susceptible to development fraud and further congestion of already overcrowded neighbourhoods
• Appointed as amicus curiae by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in a Petition filed as a public interest litigation for issuance of prerogative writs to decongest arterial roads of Mumbai and formulate a comprehensive parking policy

Sharan regularly appears before the Testamentary and Intestate Division of the Bombay High Court on behalf of legatees, administrators, caveators in succession matters.

• Appeared in appeal on behalf of the caveator challenging the challenging a decree passed by the Bombay High Court granting probate where the attesting witness was one of India’s most eminent jurists
• Appeared before the single judge and division bench of the Bombay High Court in a petition for grant of probate on a significant question i.e. what constitutes a caveatable interest under Indian law so as to maintain the filing of a caveat