Litigation and Dispute Resolution (General)

Our Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice is divided into 4 broad categories:

Arbitration:

We regularly advise and represent clients in arbitrations touching upon the broad areas of corporate and commercial laws. Some of our recent works include:

• Representing a leading cotton company in arbitration proceedings before the International Cotton Association, Liverpool, England.
• Representing a shipping company in arbitration proceedings in its US $11 million claim against Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
• Represented landowners in arbitration against a real estate developer in a US $30 million joint venture construction dispute.
• Represented one of the leading power generation companies in arbitration proceedings against a foreign service provider‟s claim of US $2.9 million.

 

Appellate Practice:

Our members have successfully represented corporate and local bodies in appellate proceedings before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, both the High Court Division and the Appellate Division. Some of our recent works include:

• Zahid Hossain v. Syed Fazlul Kader 31 BLD (HCD) 346: Successfully representing landowners in a Civil Revision application dealing with disputed claims of ownership. Issues involved the interpretation of sections 48 and 78 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 in the context of priority of disputed sale deeds.
• Khaled Rab v. Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation 23 BLC 793: Successfully represented the client on a dispute regarding survival and assignability of an arbitration clause.
• Successfully representing an airline company in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in the very first case concerning the interpretation of the Warsaw Convention as incorporated in Bangladesh law.

 

Judicial Review:

We have extensive experience in Judicial Review proceedings before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Our members have been involved in some of the leading reported cases dealing with various issues of judicial review. Some of the cases where our members have been successfully involved are:

• Grameenphone Limited v. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
  Commission (BTRC) 25 BLC (2020) 455: Successfully represented Grameenphone Limited (GP) in a seminal case where the High Court Division held that the fine imposition by BTRC of BDT 300 million (30 crore) on GP in 2016 and 2017 through three letters was illegal.
• Syed Fazlul Quader v. Chittagong Development Authority 29 BLD (HCD) 720: A leading judicial review case concerning allotment of leasehold property.
• Rupali Health Care Foundation v. Government of Bangladesh: Successfully represented the World Bank Group (WBG) in an application for striking out the name of  WBG as a respondent from the writ petition.
• Sajida Foundation v. The Post Office Savings Bank and others 2011 BLD (HCD) 31: A judicial review before the High Court Division concerning the scope and ambit of the provision of Bangladesh Post Office Savings Bank Rules 1893. This is the only case dealing with the interpretation of various provisions of Bangladesh Post Office Savings Bank Rules read with the Income Tax Ordinance 1983 concerning the taxability on the interest accrued in a fixed deposit account.
• Signage v. The Commissioner of Customs 64 DLR 137: A judicial review application on the interpretation of the term ‘advertising agency’ as defined by the VAT Act 1991. This is the seminal case on this issue.
• British American Tobacco Bangladesh v. National Board of Revenue: A judicial review application as the lead counsel against the order of VAT demand by the National Board of Revenue for an amount of around US $18 million.
• Tanvir Quader and others v. Bangladesh and others: A judicial review application successfully challenging the charging of tuition fees by private schools for online classes during Covid-19 period in violation of Registration of Private Schools Ordinance, 1962,বেসরকারি বিদ্যালয় নিবন্ধন বিধিমালা, ২০১৭ and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. The High Court Division issued appropriate direction to the Government.

 

Company and Business Litigation:

Our members have successfully litigated cases involving claims for breach of contract, fraud, unfair prejudicial conduct against the minority shareholders, misrepresentations and omissions and other statutory claims and broker-client disputes. Our members regularly appear before the lower Courts and the Company Bench of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on various corporate disputes. Some of the cases litigated by our members have been reported in the leading Bangladeshi law reports. For example:

• Abdul Momen Chowdhury v. City Bank Ltd. 31 BLD (HCD) 296: Successfully defending the client before the Company Bench of the High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in a leading case involving forged transfer of shares where the principle of adoption of forgery as enshrined in the famous English case of Greenwood v Martin Bank (1932) was applied for the first time in the context of Bangladeshi company law jurisprudence.
• Represented and successfully defended a leading steel company against a constitutional challenge to the amended section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act 1881.
• Successfully represented an established IT Company in the first ever share capital reduction application before the Company Bench of the High Court Division under the Companies Rules 2009.
• Representing minority shareholders in an application under section 233 of the Companies Act 1994 in a case involving lifting the corporate veil of cross-border group of companies.

 

Successfully represented the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines in one of the largest class action proceedings before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh involving challenge by around 1400 employees to the implementation of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) program by the client. The court after substantial hearing of the case on contest declared the VRS program valid. The case settled important legal principles involving, amongst others, the legal nature and extent of VRS programs, and the circumstances in which a workman or employee could be bound by such program. This case is reported in 1 LCLR (2012) 102.

 

Successfully represented Sajida Foundation, the leading urban micro-credit program in Bangladesh, before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh against the National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Post Office in a case touching upon the inter-relation between the Post Office Savings account and in the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 regarding taxability of interest accrued on a post office savings bank account. This is a seminal case on this point and reported in 31 BLD (HCD) 470.

 

Successfully represented Grameenphone Limited in Bangladesh in its application to be added as a party to the ongoing Robi-Airtel merger pending before the High Court Division (the largest merger in mobile telecom sector in Bangladesh).

 

Advising and Representing British American Tobacco Bangladesh in several litigation before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on VAT laws.