TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (8) TMI 968
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.... Issue summons in the suit to the defendants by all modes including dasti, returnable for 26th October, 2017. The summons to the defendants shall indicate that a written statement to the plaint shall be positively filed within four weeks of the receipt of the summons. Liberty is given to the plaintiff to file a replication within two weeks of the receipt of the advance copy of the written statement. The parties shall file all original documents in support of their respective claims along with their respective pleadings. In case parties are placing reliance on a document which is not in their power and possession, its detail and source shall be mentioned in the list of reliance which shall be also filed with the pleadings. Admission/denial of documents shall be filed on affidavit by the parties within two weeks of the completion of the pleadings. The affidavit shall include the list of the documents of the other party. The deponent shall indicate its position with regard to the documents against the particulars of each document. I.A.9460/2017 (U/o 39 Rules 1 & 2) in CS(OS) 383/2017 Issue notice to defendants by all modes including dasti, returnable for 26th October, 2....
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....hat the arbitration proceedings now initiated by the defendants is an abuse of law. In support of his contention, he relies upon a recent award published in the matter of Orascom TMT Investments S.a r.l. v. People's Democratic Republic of Algeria [ICSID Case No.ARB/12/35, Award dated 31st May 2017]. The relevant portion of the decision is as under:- "In the words of Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, "there is no legal right, however well established, which could not, in some circumstances, be refused recognition on the ground that it has been abused". In particular, an investor who controls several entities in a vertical chain of companies may commit an abuse if it seeks to impugn the same host state measures and claims for the same harm at various levels of the chain in reliance on several investment treaties concluded by the host state. It goes without saying that structuring an investment through several layers of corporate entities in different states is not illegitimate..... Several corporate entities in the chain may be in a position to bring an arbitration against the host state in relation to the same investment. This possibility, however, does not mean that the host state h....
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....(2003) 4 SCC 341, after referring to a large number of foreign judgments, has held that a court of natural jurisdiction may issue anti-suit injunction even against foreign court having exclusive jurisdiction if the said forum is oppressive or vexatious. This Court is of the prima facie view that in the present case, there is duplication of the parties and the issues. Prima facie, this Court is also of the view that India constitutes the natural forum for the litigation of the defendants' claim against the plaintiff. In fact, the reliefs sought by the defendants under the India-UK BIPA and by the VIHBV the subsidiary of defendants under the India-Netherlands BIPA are virtually identical. The reliefs sought by the VIBHV under the India-Netherlands BIPA are reproduced hereinbelow:- "(a) A declaration that the Respondent is in breach of its obligations under the BIT, including its obligations under Articles 4(1), 4(2), 4(5) and 5(1) of the BIT; (b) A permanent injunction prohibiting the Respondent from acting in breach of its obligations under the BIT, in particular prohibiting the Respondent from enforcing the 2012 Amendments (i.e. sections 2(14), 2(47), 9(1)(i) and 195 of....
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....be determined by the Tribunal; and (e) Any alternative or other relief that the Tribunal may deem appropriate in the circumstances." This Court in Pankaj Aluminium Industries Pvt. Ltd. Vs. M/s. Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd., 2011 IV AD (Delhi) 212 after relying upon DHN Food Distributors Ltd. and Others v. London Borough of Tower Hamlets [1976] 3 ALL ER 462 at Page 467 has recognised the doctrine of single economic entity. In DHN Food Distributors Ltd. (Supra), it was held as under:- ".....We all know that in many respects a group of companies are treated together for the purpose of general accounts, balance sheet and profit and loss account. They are treated as one concern. Professor Gower in his book on company law says : „there is evidence of a general tendency to ignore the separate legal entities of various companies within a group, and to look instead at the economic entity of the whole group‟. This is especially the case when a parent company owns all the shares of the subsidiaries, so much so that it can control every movement of the subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are bound hand and foot to the parent company and must do just what the parent company s....