• NATIONAL

Mumbai realty firm dragged to court by HDIL

The Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL) has sued a Mumbai-based property developer, Evershine Developers seeking compensation for transfer of development rights on a parcel of land and non-payment of dues to the bank. HDIL is seeking Rs 160 crore of payment from Evershine as damages and also cancellation of earlier agreements.

Tata Power moves Delhi High Court against Reliance Power

The Tata Power Company (TPC) has moved the Delhi High Court challenging government's decision to allow Reliance Power to divert coal from the captive mines of Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) for use in other projects. TPC - one of the bidders for the Sasan project sought Court's help to direct government to produce all records along with the letter of intent issued to Reliance Power on August 1, 2007 for the Sasan UMPP. TPC has termed the decision making process by the Government as arbitrary.

Probe into DDA Housing Allotment Scam

The government said there would be no physical allotment of flats by the Delhi Development Authority till a thorough enquiry into the process of allotment is completed. This was due to allegation of irregularities into the allotment of flats. The civic body however, maintained that there had been no violation of norms.

New law for property soon to make titles clear

A new title law "Delhi Urban Property Registration & Titling Bill" aimed to sort out property disputes is on its way. Once it becomes law, registration certificates will be replaced by title deeds and the latter will only be issued once a central authority that will have a database of all properties in the city is convinced about the ownership of the property. The authority will conduct its own survey to ascertain ownership and also issue notices asking property owners to submit relevant documents to prove their ownership. For very old properties like those in the Walled City where documents may not always be available, registration will continue to be done by the sub-registrar. In India, only Andhra Pradesh has a titling law, which was enacted recently.

• INTERNATIONAL

Foreign law firms get tax reprieve from Bombay HC

Foreign law firms have received a tax reprieve following a judgement from the Bombay High Court which clearly states that their income will be taxable in India only to the extent of their operations in India. An early beneficiary of the judgement has been Clifford Chance, a UK-based legal firm which during 1996-97 was appointed as legal advisors for three projects in India.

Satyam dragged to Texas Court by UK based mobile services provider

A Texas court will hold a hearing on the legal tussle between Upaid, a UK-based mobile services provider and Satyam Computer Services. The court will decide on the issuance of summons to three top executives of Satyam for depositions. Upaid and Satyam are locked in a two-pronged legal battle, one, a forgery case filed by Upaid against the Satyam management seeking damages of over $1 billion, and the other, a disparagement case by Satyam against Upaid.