Two prominent Indian lawyers will face off next year, possibly for the first time, in a foreign court.
Gopal Subramanium and Harish Salve will be appearing on opposite sides of an arbitration award challenge filed by erstwhile Ranbaxy promoters Shivinder Singh and Malvinder in Singapore against the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo.
Singapore High Court has permitted Subramanium the former solicitor general of India, to appear on behalf of Daiichi in upcoming court proceedings according to a spokesperson from P&A Law Offices which is representing Daiichi in India.
Subramanium stated that he was looking forward to appearing on behalf of Daiichi in Singapore High Court, calling it “a very respected jurisdiction.”
The decision comes a month after Salve was given permission to argue for the Singhs.
The Singhs are challenging the award granted by an arbitration tribunal in April 2016 which ordered them to pay nearly Rs 2,500 crore in damages to Daiichi for allegedly failing to reveal to Daiichi material information with respect to wrongdoings in Ranbaxy during its sale proceedings in 2008.
The award is estimated to be currently Rs 3,500 crore inclusive of interest plus legal fees.
The dates for the appeal proceedings is yet to be fixed, but according to a lawyer close to the case it is expected to commence in 2018.
Daiichi had filed a request with the Singapore High Court to allow Subramanium to appear on its behalf in the court proceedings after the Salve was given permission by the Singapore Court of Appeals to appear for the Singhs, as per another lawyer source.
The high court reportedly found Subramanium’s credentials “suitable” for permitting him to appear as an Indian lawyer in the appeal proceedings.
Case Revolves Around Indian Law
With much of the case involving provisions of Indian law , arguments are likely to mostly between Salve and Subramanium. Lawyers who are associated with the litigation in India have confirmed that the two top lawyers will be facing off each other in majority of the court proceedings.
They also said that it was likely that Subramanium may focus more on the Indian legal provisions but Salve might cover both Indian and Singapore law in his arguments.
Lawyers active in Singapore have indicated that Salve and Subramanium may ultimately be allowed to only provide expert opinion on areas related to interpretation of Indian law. Local lawyers will handle other parts of the arbitration case.
Subramanium was one of the primary counsels handling Daiichi’s case at the Delhi High Court for recovering the award from the Singhs.
The Delhi court reserved its orders in September on whether Daiichi could impose its award in India.
Fortis Healthcare Stake Also Under Litigation
Daiichi has also approached the Delhi High Court to disallow the Singh brothers from divesting their stakes in the hospital chain Fortis Healthcare, in order to make the award enforcement possible.
The HC had given permission to the Singhs in July this year to sell their holdings in Fortis Healthcare as long as it did not result in any change in the value of assets that are currently unencumbered.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court of India asked the companies controlled by the Singhs to retain the status of the encumbered and encumbered holdings in the hospital chain.
The legal issues have deterred many investors interested in acquiring the hotel chain.
As on September 2017, the promoters have a stake of 34.44% in Fortis Healthcare.
