SPECIALIZED WHITE COLLAR CRIME TEAM:

Diwan Advocates maintains a robust and specialized White Collar Crime and Economic Offences practice, led by its Partner, Dr. Farrukh Khan. The Firm is widely recognised for advising and representing clients in high stakes matters involving allegations pertaining to complex financial, corporate, and regulatory misconduct. White collar prosecutions today are rarely confined to a single forum; they frequently unfold across parallel criminal, civil, regulatory, and insolvency proceedings, demanding a sophisticated command over substantive criminal law, procedural safeguards, and industry specific regulatory regimes. Our practice is defined by a strategic, defence oriented approach that is carefully aligned with the factual matrix, legal vulnerabilities, and commercial realities of each case.

INTERPLAY OF PMLA & IBC:

A key differentiator of our White Collar Crime practice is its strong integration with the Firm’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) practice, coupled with our extensive experience in handling matters involving multiple cross implications. Our parallel expertise in insolvency and restructuring enables us to bring a nuanced understanding of corporate structures, financial arrangements, related party transactions, fund flows, and commercial decision making, which are issues that frequently form the core of allegations in economic offence and fraud prosecutions. Our experience in dealing with overlapping and interlinked proceedings, such as criminal prosecution, PMLA enforcement, insolvency processes, regulatory action, and civil recovery, allows us to anticipate risks, harmonise defence strategies, and prevent adverse spill over across forums, thereby adding substantial value to our clients’ overall defence.

OUR STRENGTH:

Our white collar crime team advises and represents clients across the entire spectrum of economic offences, including financial and banking fraud, credit related offences, corporate and accounting irregularities, diversion and misappropriation of funds, and money laundering proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). We also act in matters relating to allegations in respect of cyber and technology enabled crimes, bribery and corruption, tax and fiscal offences, and violations of securities laws, corporate governance standards, and statutory compliance frameworks. The Firm regularly represents promoters, directors, key managerial personnel, senior executives, professionals, and corporate entities confronted with criminal prosecution, regulatory scrutiny, and enforcement action.

Diwan Advocates offers comprehensive, end to end legal support throughout the lifecycle of investigations and enforcement proceedings initiated by authorities such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and securities and market regulators. Our experience spans advisory and representation in search and seizure actions, issuance of summons, recording of statements, provisional attachment and confiscation proceedings, arrest and bail matters, adjudication processes, as well as trial and appellate litigation. We routinely appear before Trial Courts, Special Courts, High Courts, and appellate forums across India in some of the most complex and sensitive white collar criminal matters.

WHITE COLLAR (NON-CONTENTIOUS) ADVISORY:

Beyond courtroom advocacy, the Firm places strong emphasis on proactive risk management and compliance. We advise clients on risk assessment, internal controls, compliance structuring, and preventive strategies designed to mitigate exposure to white collar criminal liability. Our objective is not only to defend proceedings once initiated, but also to safeguard personal and corporate rights, manage regulatory and reputational risk, and secure effective, outcome oriented solutions through precise legal strategy, deep subject matter expertise, and rigorous advocacy.

RECENT ENGAGEMENTS:

Diwan Advocates has extensive experience in advising and representing clients in some of the most sensitive and high profile white collar and economic offence matters in India. The Firm and its leadership have acted in cases involving senior political functionaries, prominent public officials, leading industrialists, infrastructure and real estate promoters, and senior executives of large corporate groups, where proceedings involved serious allegations of financial impropriety, corruption, money laundering, and abuse of official position.

Our experience includes representing clients in matters involving large scale infrastructure and real estate transactions, complex fund flow structures, alleged diversion and siphoning of funds, policy driven commercial decisions subjected to criminal scrutiny, and enforcement actions arising out of regulatory, vigilance, and investigative proceedings. Several of these matters have involved extensive media attention, multi agency investigations, and parallel proceedings before criminal courts, special courts under economic statutes, High Courts, and regulatory forums.

The Firm has also handled cases involving senior government officers and public servants facing prosecution under anti corruption laws, money laundering statutes, and economic offence frameworks, where defence strategy required a careful examination of decision making processes, statutory discretion, approvals, and the distinction between criminal intent and bona fide administrative or commercial actions.

Across these matters, our role has included advising during investigations, representing clients in search and seizure related proceedings, responding to summons and statements, handling arrest and bail proceedings, challenging attachment actions, and conducting trial and appellate litigation. Our experience in managing high stakes matters with cross implications across criminal law, regulatory enforcement, insolvency proceedings, and civil disputes has consistently enabled us to deliver coherent and effective defence strategies while safeguarding both personal liberty and long term commercial interests.

Diwan Advocates

Intellectual Property Law Practice

A pharmaceutical company spends twelve years and hundreds of crores developing a new molecule. A competitor files a patent application for a process that is, on close reading, the same invention described differently. The original company has 60 days from the date of publication to oppose the application. They call a lawyer on day 55.

A fashion brand discovers that a manufacturer in Surat is selling near-identical products under a name that looks and sounds like theirs. The counterfeits are already on e-commerce platforms. By the time a civil suit is filed, heard, and decided, the brand's reputation has taken the hit. They need an interim injunction within days, and they need the platforms to take the listings down now.

A software startup is acquired by a foreign buyer. During due diligence, the buyer's lawyers discover that the core product contains open-source components licensed under the GPL. The startup's founders did not know this created a problem. It does. GPL requires that any software incorporating GPL code be made available under the same terms. The buyer's plan to keep the source code proprietary is suddenly in question.

Intellectual property law is not abstract. It is the legal architecture that determines whether a company can protect what it built, charge for what it created, and stop others from free-riding on its investment. Getting it right requires technical knowledge, commercial judgment, and the ability to move fast when infringement happens.

At Diwan Advocates, our IP practice covers patents, trade marks, copyright, designs, geographical indications, trade secrets, and the increasingly complex questions of IP in digital and technology contexts. We advise on registration and prosecution, on licensing and commercialisation, on enforcement and defence, and on the IP dimensions of corporate transactions.

Patents

A patent grants its holder the exclusive right to make, use, sell, and import a patented invention in India for 20 years from the date of filing. The Patents Act, 1970 requires that an invention be novel, involve an inventive step, and be capable of industrial application. Section 3 sets out what is not patentable, including discoveries of natural phenomena, mathematical methods, business methods, and critically for the technology sector, computer programmes per se.

What Is and Is Not Patentable in India

The Section 3(k) exclusion for computer programmes per se has been interpreted by the Indian Patent Office and courts to mean that software implemented inventions can be patented if they produce a technical effect beyond the normal physical interactions between software and hardware. A pure business method implemented in software is not patentable. A software-implemented process that solves a specific technical problem in a novel way may be. The line is not always clear, and drafting the claims to capture the technical effect while satisfying the Section 3(k) test requires careful prosecution strategy.

Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, which prohibits the grant of patents for new forms of known substances unless they demonstrate significantly enhanced efficacy, is one of the most debated provisions in global pharmaceutical patent law. The Supreme Court upheld it in Novartis AG v. Union of India (2013), rejecting the patent for imatinib mesylate, the active ingredient in Gleevec. The provision is intended to prevent evergreening, the practice of making minor modifications to extend patent protection on medicines whose original patents are expiring.

Patent Prosecution and Opposition

Filing a patent application in India begins a prosecution process that typically takes three to five years from filing to grant. Once filed, the application is examined and the examiner raises objections. The applicant must respond within twelve months of the first examination report. A pre-grant opposition can be filed by any person at any time before the patent is granted. A post-grant opposition can be filed by an interested person within twelve months of the date of publication of the grant. We manage prosecution from initial drafting through examination, opposition proceedings, and appeal before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Compulsory Licensing

Sections 84 to 92 of the Patents Act allow the Controller of Patents to grant a compulsory licence to a third party to work a patent without the patent holder's consent, where the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the invention have not been satisfied, the invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price, or the invention is not worked in India. The first compulsory licence ever granted in India was issued in 2012 for the anti-cancer drug sorafenib tosylate in Natco Pharma v. Bayer Corporation. Compulsory licensing remains a live issue in pharmaceutical patent disputes.

Trade Marks

A trade mark is any sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of another. The Trade Marks Act, 1999 protects words, logos, device marks, three-dimensional shapes, colours, sounds, and smell marks. Registration gives the owner the exclusive right to use the mark for the registered goods and services and the right to sue for infringement. Unregistered marks are protected through the common law action of passing off.

Registration Strategy

A trade mark application filed in India designates one or more of the 45 Nice Classification classes of goods and services. The scope of protection is broadly limited to the class or classes in which the mark is registered, though well-known marks are protected across classes. Filing strategy matters: a mark registered only in the class covering the applicant's current business is vulnerable to infringement in adjacent classes as the business expands. We advise on classification strategy, on the relative merits of seeking well-known mark status, and on building a registration portfolio that keeps pace with business growth.

Examination, Opposition, and Rectification

After a trade mark application is examined and accepted, it is published in the Trade Marks Journal. Any person can oppose the application within four months of publication. Grounds of opposition include that the mark is identical or deceptively similar to an earlier mark, that it is descriptive or generic, or that it was applied for in bad faith. A registered mark can be challenged by a rectification application to the High Court on grounds including non-use for a continuous period of five years and three months. We conduct opposition proceedings and rectification applications on behalf of both applicants defending their marks and third parties challenging marks that should not have been registered.

Infringement and Passing Off

Trade mark infringement requires use of a mark identical or deceptively similar to the registered mark in relation to identical or similar goods or services, in the course of trade. Passing off does not require registration: it protects the goodwill a business has built up in its unregistered name or mark against misrepresentation by a third party that causes or is likely to cause damage. Both causes of action can be brought simultaneously. In urgent cases involving active counterfeiting, we apply for an ex parte interim injunction before the High Court, often combined with an Anton Piller order allowing a court-appointed commissioner to enter the defendant's premises and seize infringing goods and records.

Copyright

Copyright protects original creative works from the moment they are created. Registration is not required for protection, but it creates an evidentiary presumption of ownership and is important in enforcement. The Copyright Act, 1957 protects literary works including software and databases, musical works, artistic works, cinematograph films, and sound recordings. The term of protection is the life of the author plus 60 years for most categories of work.

Ownership and the 2012 Amendment

The question of who owns a copyright is frequently contested. Where an employee creates a work in the course of employment, the employer is typically the first owner. Where a work is commissioned, the position depends on the category of work. The 2012 amendment introduced a provision that an author or composer who assigns copyright to a film producer or sound recording producer retains the right to receive an equal share of royalties for uses other than as part of the film or recording. This right cannot be contracted away and has been the subject of significant litigation in the music industry.

Fair Dealing and Exceptions

The Copyright Act provides exceptions to infringement for fair dealing for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, and reporting of current events. These are narrower than the fair use doctrine in the United States and do not permit wholesale copying even for non-commercial purposes. Educational exceptions allow reproduction for teaching purposes within prescribed limits. The boundaries of these exceptions are increasingly tested in the context of training AI systems on copyrighted content, a question Indian courts have not yet definitively answered.

Online Infringement and Takedowns

Online copyright infringement is widespread. A rights holder who discovers infringing content on a platform can send a takedown notice to the platform relying on the intermediary liability framework under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. A platform that fails to act expeditiously on a takedown notice from a rights holder loses its safe harbour protection and becomes liable for the infringement. We send takedown notices, manage platform responses, and where platforms are unresponsive, obtain John Doe injunctions from the High Courts requiring ISPs to block access to infringing content.

Designs

The Designs Act, 2000 protects the visual features of a finished article: its shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation, or composition of lines or colours, applied to the article by any industrial process. Protection requires that the design be new or original and not previously published. Registration gives a ten-year monopoly, extendable by five years on payment of the prescribed fee.

Design protection is separate from and narrower than copyright protection. It protects the appearance of an article as applied to a specific class of goods, not the underlying artistic work. A design registered for a textile pattern protects that pattern when applied to textiles in the registered class. It does not necessarily protect it when applied to wallpaper or ceramics without a separate registration. Designs that are primarily dictated by function rather than aesthetics are not registrable.

Design infringement in consumer goods, furniture, fashion, and packaging is a fast-moving area. The combination of design registration and trade dress passing off is often used to protect product appearance comprehensively, covering both the registered design and any acquired distinctiveness the product has built in the market.

Trade Secrets and Confidential Information

India does not have a dedicated trade secrets statute. Protection for confidential business information relies on contractual obligations of confidence, the law of breach of confidence as developed by the courts, and in some cases the tort of inducement of breach of contract where a competitor has actively recruited employees to acquire confidential information.

The practical protection of trade secrets begins long before any dispute arises. Employment agreements must contain well-drafted confidentiality clauses that survive termination. Technology transfer agreements must clearly define what is confidential and what the recipient can and cannot do with it. Access to genuinely sensitive information should be limited on a need-to-know basis and documented. When an employee leaves and joins a competitor, the strength of the legal response available depends directly on the quality of the documentation that was put in place during the employment.

Non-compete clauses in Indian employment agreements face a significant legal constraint. Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 renders agreements in restraint of trade void. Indian courts have consistently held that a post-employment non-compete clause is void as a restraint of trade, regardless of the duration or geographic scope. A non-solicitation of customers clause is generally upheld if it is reasonable in scope. A confidentiality obligation survives employment and is enforceable. Understanding this distinction is essential for businesses seeking to protect their competitive position when key employees leave.

IP in Corporate Transactions

Intellectual property is often the most valuable asset in a technology or brand-driven business, and its legal health determines the value and risk profile of any transaction involving that business.

IP Due Diligence

In an acquisition or investment, IP due diligence covers ownership of all registered and unregistered IP, validity of key registrations, freedom to operate analysis identifying third-party IP that the business's products or processes may infringe, chain of title for IP created by founders before incorporation or by contractors without assignment agreements, open-source licence compliance in software products, and the terms of all existing IP licences including any restrictions on assignment or change of control. A gap in IP ownership or a contaminating open-source licence discovered after closing can significantly affect the value of what was acquired.

IP Licensing

An IP licence grants a licensee the right to use IP owned by the licensor within defined parameters. The key terms of any IP licence are the scope of the grant (what rights, in what territory, for what products), whether the licence is exclusive or non-exclusive, the royalty structure, sublicensing rights, audit rights, quality control obligations where brand standards must be maintained, and what happens on termination. We draft and negotiate IP licences across all categories of IP and across all industries, including patent licences for technology transfer, trade mark licences for franchising and distribution, and copyright licences for content distribution.

IP Assignment in M&A

In a share acquisition, the IP stays with the target company and transfers with it. In an asset acquisition, IP must be specifically identified and assigned. Each category of IP has its own assignment requirements. Patent assignments must be in writing and registered with the Patent Office to be effective against third parties. Trade mark assignments must be recorded with the Trade Marks Registry. Copyright assignments must be in writing signed by the assignor. A failure to properly execute and register an IP assignment can leave the buyer without the title they paid for.

Enforcement: Getting to Court Fast

IP infringement causes damage that compounds with delay. A counterfeit product in the market erodes brand value and consumer trust. A competitor using a patented process has a cost advantage that grows every day. Online infringing content spreads faster than litigation. The first priority in any enforcement situation is speed.

Interim Injunctions and Anton Piller Orders

An interim injunction from the High Court can stop the infringement within days of filing. The applicant must show a prima facie case, that the balance of convenience favours a grant, and that damages would not be an adequate remedy. In trade mark and copyright cases involving active counterfeiting, courts will also grant Anton Piller orders, allowing a court-appointed commissioner to enter the defendant's premises without notice, inspect, photograph, and seize infringing goods and records. These orders are among the most powerful tools in IP enforcement and require careful preparation to obtain and execute correctly.

John Doe Orders and Online Enforcement

Where infringing content is hosted by unknown parties or distributed through multiple websites, the courts can issue John Doe orders, also called Ashok Kumar orders after the Indian variant, directing ISPs and platforms to block access to infringing content at specified URLs or more broadly. These orders are regularly granted in film piracy and software piracy cases. We obtain and enforce John Doe orders and manage the ongoing monitoring required to ensure that infringing content does not reappear at new URLs after a blocking order.

Border Measures

IP rights holders can record their registered trade marks and copyrights with the Customs authorities under the Customs Act, 1962 and the IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007. Once recorded, Customs officers can detain suspected infringing goods at the border and notify the rights holder, who then has a limited period to take legal action. This is one of the most cost-effective enforcement tools available against imported counterfeits.

Why Diwan Advocates for Intellectual Property?

Legislative Reference Index

Intellectual property is only as valuable as the legal protection behind it.

We build that protection and defend it when it is challenged.

Diwan Advocates  |  Intellectual Property Practice  |  Delhi, India

Diwan Advocates

Delhi, India  |  Full-Service Legal Practice

A company receives a CCI dawn raid at 9 in the morning. By 9:15, they need to know what investigators can and cannot take, what employees should and should not say, and whether any of the documents on the server are legally privileged. They do not need a firm that handles competition law occasionally. They need one that has done this before.

A founder signs a term sheet for Series A funding from a Singapore-based investor. The cap table has three co-founders, one of whom has left, two ESOP tranches that were never formally issued, and a convertible note from 2022 whose conversion terms nobody documented properly. The investor finds all of it in due diligence. The deal is not dead. But it needs fixing, fast, by people who understand both the Indian company law position and what the investor needs to see.

A woman in Delhi receives a court summons from a family court abroad. Her husband filed for divorce three months ago without telling her. She did not know the proceedings existed until the summons arrived. She has two children in school in Delhi and property jointly held with her husband. She needs to understand within 48 hours what her rights are, whether the Indian courts have jurisdiction, and what she should do first.

Three clients. Three completely different areas of law. One common thread: when a serious legal matter arrives, the quality of the lawyers you have matters more than anything else.

Diwan Advocates is a full-service law firm based in Delhi. We work across 45+ practice areas, from corporate transactions and tax to criminal defence, family law, data privacy, competition, environment, and entertainment. We advise businesses, founders, individuals, and institutions. The lawyers who advise on your matter are the lawyers who appear in court on it.

What We Do: Our Practice Areas

Why Clients Choose Diwan Advocates

How We Can Help You

If you run a business

We help with company formation, shareholders agreements, investment transactions, and merger clearances. We draft and review the commercial contracts your business depends on. We advise on GST, direct tax, and transfer pricing. When a dispute arises, with a supplier, a customer, a competitor, or a regulator, we handle it.

If you are a founder or startup

We structure equity, ESOP schemes, and term sheets. We handle FEMA compliance for foreign investment. We advise on data privacy and technology contracts from the early stage, before problems accumulate. We have worked with companies from incorporation through to acquisition.

If you are an individual

We handle family law matters across all personal law frameworks with the discretion they require. We advise on property purchases, succession planning, and wills. We represent individuals in criminal proceedings, including bail, trial, and appeal. We advise NRIs on the Indian legal implications of decisions made abroad.

If you are facing regulatory action

We defend companies and individuals in CCI investigations, SEBI enforcement proceedings, Income Tax prosecutions, SFIO fraud investigations, and data protection enforcement. We also advise on how to avoid regulatory action in the first place through properly structured compliance programmes.

If you are in a dispute

We appear before the Supreme Court, High Courts, NCLT, NCLAT, NGT, commercial courts, family courts, and consumer forums. We handle domestic and international arbitration. We obtain urgent interim relief when it is needed quickly. We also know when negotiating a settlement is the better outcome and pursue it without hesitation.

If you work in a creative or technology industry

We advise creators, platforms, labels, studios, athletes, gaming companies, and AI developers on the law that governs their work. We handle copyright disputes, personality rights protection, OTT licensing, defamation defence, DPDPA compliance, and technology M&A. We understand the industries we advise.

The Integrated Advantage

Most significant legal matters touch more than one area of law. A factory that receives a closure order from the pollution control board may also face a criminal complaint against its directors, a claim from affected residents before the NGT, a lender demanding compliance under its loan covenants, and a tax assessment disputing its remediation expenses, all at the same time. A single-practice firm cannot handle that. A firm with disconnected practice groups gives each part to a different team that does not speak to the other.

At Diwan Advocates, our practice areas work together. The taxation team is involved when a family law matter has estate planning implications. The competition team is involved when a commercial contract contains potentially anti-competitive clauses. The environment team and the company law team coordinate when a listed company faces both regulatory and market disclosure obligations arising from the same environmental incident. This is not a marketing point. It is how we actually operate, and the clients who have needed it know the difference it makes.

The Legal Landscape Has Changed. We Are Ready for It.

Between 2023 and 2025, India enacted more significant new legislation than in any comparable period in recent memory. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the Indian Penal Code. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam updated the law of evidence. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act created India's first comprehensive data protection regime. The Telecom Act replaced a framework from 1885. The Competition Amendment Act changed the merger control regime. The Van Adhiniyam changed forest clearance law. The Surrogacy Regulation Act changed family formation law.

Not every firm has kept pace. We have. Our advice reflects the law as it stands today, including the provisions that have not yet been tested in court, the regulations still being finalised, and the areas where the legislative intent is clear even if the procedural rules are not. We tell clients what is certain and what is not, and we advise them on how to act sensibly in both situations.

Whatever the legal matter, the question is always the same:

do you have lawyers who know this area, who will give you a straight answer,

and who will see it through to the end?

At Diwan Advocates, the answer is yes.

Diwan Advocates  |  Delhi, India

Diwan Advocates

SARFAESI and Secured Lending Practice

A bank's borrower has not paid in over a year. The account is an NPA. The security is a commercial property worth more than the loan outstanding. Before SARFAESI, the bank filed a suit and waited. Now it serves a demand notice, waits 60 days, takes possession, and sells at auction. No court permission needed. If the borrower wants to fight it, the borrower goes to the DRT.

A manufacturing company gets a possession notice under Section 13(4). The promoters signed personal guarantees. They believe the NPA classification was wrong and the demand notice misstated the amount. They have 45 days to file before the DRT. After that, the right is gone.

SARFAESI gives secured creditors real power. It also gives borrowers and guarantors specific procedural rights that, used correctly and quickly, can constrain that power. At Diwan Advocates, we work on both sides: lenders enforcing, and borrowers and guarantors defending.

What SARFAESI Does

The SARFAESI Act, 2002 allows secured creditors to enforce a security interest in movable or immovable assets without going to court. It applies to scheduled banks, notified financial institutions, housing finance companies, and NBFCs above the RBI's prescribed asset threshold. Agricultural land, loans below Rs 1 lakh, and accounts where less than 20 percent of the principal is outstanding are excluded.

The security interest must be a recognised form under Indian law: equitable mortgage by deposit of title deeds, registered mortgage, hypothecation over movables, or a charge under the Companies Act. An unsecured guarantee alone is not sufficient.

The Enforcement Process: Step by Step

Step 1: NPA Classification

The account must be an NPA under the applicable RBI norms before enforcement can begin. For banks, that means interest or principal overdue for more than 90 days. A notice served before proper NPA classification is vulnerable to challenge.

Step 2: Section 13(2) Demand Notice

The secured creditor serves written notice on the borrower and guarantor specifying the amount due and the secured assets intended to be enforced. The borrower has 60 days to pay in full. The notice must be served by registered post. Defects in the notice or its service are grounds for challenge before the DRT.

Step 3: Borrower's Representation

The borrower can make a written representation within 60 days disputing the amount, the NPA classification, or the notice itself. The secured creditor must consider it and, if rejected, give written reasons. Failure to do so is a ground of challenge.

Step 4: Section 13(4) Possession

If payment is not made within 60 days, the secured creditor can take possession, take over management, appoint a manager, or require payment from a person who acquired the secured asset from the borrower. Possession may be symbolic, by affixing a notice and publishing in newspapers, or physical. Where the occupant resists, the secured creditor applies to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or District Magistrate under Section 14 for assistance. The CMM or DM acts in an executive, not judicial, capacity.

Sale of the Secured Asset

Once in possession, the secured creditor sells by public e-auction under the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002. The key requirements are straightforward: obtain a valuation, set a reserve price at or above the valuation, publish a notice in two newspapers at least 30 days before auction, and serve the notice on the borrower personally.

The borrower can redeem the asset at any time before the actual sale by paying the full outstanding amount including costs. This right cannot be contracted away. On completion of sale, the authorised officer issues a sale certificate. The buyer's title is subject to prior charges and statutory dues that rank ahead of the secured creditor.

Challenging Enforcement: Section 17 Before the DRT

Any person aggrieved by a measure under Section 13(4) can file an application before the Debt Recovery Tribunal within 45 days of the measure. The DRT can condone delay for a further 45 days on sufficient cause. Beyond 90 days, the right is extinguished. This is the hardest deadline in SARFAESI practice.

Grounds of challenge include improper NPA classification, defective or unserved demand notice, failure to consider the borrower's representation, incorrect amount in the notice, exclusion of the asset from SARFAESI's scope, and procedural failures in taking possession. A stay of the sale pending the application is available but typically requires a deposit of part of the outstanding amount.

Orders of the DRT can be appealed to the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal under Section 18. The DRAT requires a pre-deposit of 50 percent of the debt as determined by the DRT, which can be reduced on application. This deposit condition is the single biggest practical constraint on appealing DRT orders.

Guarantors: Enforcement and Defences

Where a personal or corporate guarantor has created security over their own assets, the Section 13(2) notice must be served on them as well. They have the same 60-day period to pay and the same right of representation. Their secured assets can be enforced in the same way as the borrower's.

Guarantors have specific legal defences under the Indian Contract Act, 1872: if the creditor varied the principal contract without the guarantor's consent, released the principal debtor, or gave time without reserving rights against the guarantor, the guarantor may be discharged. Whether any defence is available depends on the guarantee's terms and the facts.

Asset Reconstruction Companies

ARCs acquire NPAs from banks at a discount, step into the lender's shoes, and enforce the security under SARFAESI. They fund acquisitions by issuing security receipts to qualified institutional buyers. The RBI regulates ARCs under the Act.

When a loan is assigned to an ARC, the borrower's counterparty changes. The ARC bought the loan at a discount and its economics differ from the original bank's. This creates room for negotiated settlement at amounts the original lender may not have accepted. We advise borrowers on engaging with ARCs from a position of legal knowledge and realistic commercial understanding of what the ARC needs to achieve.

SARFAESI and the IBC

When a CIRP is admitted against the borrower, the Section 14 moratorium under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 stays all SARFAESI enforcement, including proceedings already underway. An ongoing auction can be halted. The secured creditor joins the Committee of Creditors and votes on the resolution plan.

The strategic choice between invoking SARFAESI and initiating CIRP depends on the security value, the business viability, the number of creditors, and the prospect of a resolution plan. Sometimes both routes run in parallel until one produces a result. We advise lenders on this choice and manage both processes simultaneously where that is the right approach.

Why Diwan Advocates for SARFAESI?

Legislative Reference Index

SARFAESI runs on deadlines that do not wait. Whether you are enforcing or defending, the time to act is now.

Diwan Advocates is ready.

Diwan Advocates  |  Delhi, India

Diwan Advocates

Real Estate Practice

Real estate transactions in India touch multiple overlapping laws: title, registration, stamp duty, regulatory approvals, lending, and insolvency. A title defect discovered after registration, a missed RERA deadline, or a lender enforcing security can each unwind years of work. At Diwan Advocates, we advise buyers, sellers, developers, lenders, and investors across the full transaction and dispute cycle.

What We Do

Our real estate practice covers transactional work, regulatory compliance, and litigation. We act for private buyers, institutional investors, developers, banks, and NBFCs.

•      Title and Due Diligence: Revenue records, encumbrance certificates, CERSAI searches, mutation entries, and litigation checks before any acquisition or lending decision.

•      Transactions and Structuring: Sale deeds, development agreements, joint venture documents, and leases drafted and negotiated with stamp duty and registration requirements built in.

•      RERA Compliance: Project registration, disclosure obligations, allotment agreements, and complaints before the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and the Appellate Tribunal.

•      Secured Lending and Enforcement: Mortgage creation, charge registration, SARFAESI enforcement, and auction purchase due diligence for banks and NBFCs.

•      Acquisition and Sale Disputes: Specific performance, possession, cancellation of sale deeds, and injunctions before civil courts and high courts.

•      Landlord and Tenant: Lease drafting, rent recovery, eviction proceedings, and disputes under applicable rent control legislation.

•      Acquisition by the State: Compensation challenges and enhanced compensation proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

Title and Due Diligence

Title in India is not registered in the Torrens sense. Ownership is established by a chain of documents. A buyer or lender must trace the chain back far enough to be satisfied that the seller or mortgagor has clear, marketable title and the power to sell or mortgage.

A standard diligence exercise covers:

•      Title documents going back 30 years minimum, cross-checked against revenue records and mutation entries.

•      Encumbrance certificate from the sub-registrar showing registered transactions affecting the property.

•      CERSAI search to identify any registered security interest under the

•      CERSAI search to identify any registered security interest under the SARFAESI Act, 2002.

•      Charge search with the Registrar of Companies where the seller or mortgagor is a company, under the Companies Act, 2013.

•      Pending litigation search in courts having jurisdiction.

•      Regulatory approvals: conversion orders, building plan sanctions, occupation certificates, and RERA registration where applicable.

Gaps in the title chain, unregistered transactions, or undisclosed encumbrances create risk that no indemnity clause fully cures. We advise on when to proceed, when to seek additional representations, and when to walk away.

Stamp Duty and Registration

Every instrument of sale, mortgage, or lease must be stamped under the applicable State Stamp Act or the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, and registered under the Registration Act, 1908 where required. An insufficiently stamped document is inadmissible in evidence and unenforceable. An unregistered sale deed of immovable property does not convey title.

Stamp duty is a significant transaction cost, typically between 4 and 7 percent of the market value depending on the State. Structuring a transaction to reduce duty exposure is permissible; misdescription of consideration is not. We advise on duty-efficient structuring within the law and on curative stamping where historical instruments have shortfalls.

RERA: Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016

The RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016) applies to residential and commercial real estate projects above prescribed thresholds. Developers must register projects with the State RERA authority before advertising or selling. Allotment agreements must follow the model format. Possession must be delivered by the registered date.

Buyers have enforceable rights to:

•      Refund with interest where the developer fails to complete on time.

•      Compensation for structural defects within five years of possession.

•      Information disclosed in the RERA registration, which the developer cannot unilaterally alter.

Complaints lie before the RERA adjudicating officer for compensation and before the authority for other violations. Orders are appealable to the RERA Appellate Tribunal, and from there to the High Court. We represent buyers pursuing refunds and compensation, and developers responding to complaints.

Mortgages and Secured Lending

The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 governs the creation of mortgages. The principal forms used in practice are the equitable mortgage by deposit of title deeds (requiring notified area notification in most States) and the registered mortgage by deed. Both require stamp duty. A registered mortgage must also be registered under the Registration Act, 1908.

Where the mortgagor is a company, the mortgage is a charge that must be registered with the Registrar of Companies within 30 days of creation. An unregistered charge is void against the liquidator and other creditors on winding up.

On default, a secured creditor with a mortgage over immovable property above the SARFAESI threshold can enforce without court intervention. The sequence is: NPA classification, Section 13(2) demand notice, 60-day waiting period, possession under Section 13(4), and sale by public e-auction. Buyers at SARFAESI auctions take title subject to prior charges and statutory dues. TDS under Section 194-IA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 applies on auction purchases above Rs 50 lakh.

Acquisition and Title Disputes

When a transaction breaks down or title is contested, the remedies depend on the stage and the nature of the dispute.

•      Specific performance of an agreement to sell lies before the civil court under the Specific Relief Act, 1963. The court has discretion, and both quantum of payment and readiness to perform are central to the claim.

•      Possession suits lie where a buyer has paid but not received possession, or where an owner has been dispossessed without due process.

•      Cancellation of a sale deed on grounds of fraud, misrepresentation, or failure of consideration is a civil remedy that can be combined with a criminal complaint under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

•      Injunctions restraining further dealing with a property pending dispute are available but require showing a prima facie case, balance of convenience, and irreparable harm.

We appear before district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court in real estate disputes, and before RERA authorities and tribunals on regulatory matters.

Legislative Reference

Why Diwan Advocates for Real Estate

Real estate transactions move on negotiated timelines. Disputes do not wait.

Diwan Advocates is ready.

Diwan Advocates  |  Delhi, India

Matters relating restructuring and insolvency are regulated by Insolvency and bankruptcy code, 2016. The code is a watch dog for insolvency and liquidation process and proceedings involving all limited liability entities. Not limited to this the code governs insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings for individuals, partnerships as well. The government has set up a committee for recommendations for the adoption of UNICITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, 1997. Tribunals and authorities handling Insolvency and liquidation proceedings are National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The strong expertise in core commercial and corporate laws, coupled with the understanding of various business sectors enables the firm to deliver holistic and effective guidance to the Clients.

Our firm expertise cover legal as well as commercial advice in the matters relating insolvency, settlements and restructuring, negotiations. We represent our clients before NCLT, NCLAT, High Courts and Supreme Court of India. Specifically, the team has rendered advisory and consultancy services to creditors on various potential issues that could arise as a result of an interplay between the Code and other applicable laws. The team has also initiated insolvency resolution process and sought relief before the NCLT on behalf of various Clients. The team supports with a strategic combination of advisory and litigation throughout the course of the insolvency proceedings to our Clients in order to safeguard their financial interests. The team is also well-positioned to deliver strategic advice to asset reconstruction companies. The team aids and guides in the assessment of assets and liabilities of a stressed company and accordingly advises the risk involved in taking over businesses of stressed companies undergoing resolution process.

Transfer of property is a wide branch of law prevailing since nineteenth century and in India is regulated by transfer of property act, 1882. The act came into force on 1st July 1882 and lays down provisions in context of transfer or property and conditions involving transfers. “Move of property” as per the act signifies and demonstrates by what way the individual passes on the property and comprehensively establishes all the legal rights of a person in property.

Diwan advocates have expertise in advising its clients robustly in the matters related property disputes and representing its client before authorities, High court and Supreme Court. We also assist in drafting and preparing legal documents including sale agreements, rent/lease deed, mortgage deed, gift deed, conveyance deed and more.

“Marriage” a scared ceremony, a bond tying not only the pair but the entire family, thus itself becomes a law equally important as any other law. India a secular country, with variety of religions and not having a uniform code, Muslim marriages are governed by Muslim Personal Law/ Shariat law whereas Hindu marriages are governed by Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and similarly Christian Marriage Act, 1872 applies to Christians. In case of Special cases Special Marriage Act, 1954 applies universally to all religions. “Marriage is a contract” “Contracts are meant to be broken” therefore rules and regulations regarding troubled marriages are enshrined under Indian Divorce Act, 1869.

Diwan Advocates have been providing consultancy and assistance to their clients. We look after understanding and rigorously achieving our client’s needs. Diwan Advocates represent clients in family courts throughout India in matters related to divorce, child custody, child support, spousal support, equitable distribution and paternity actions. If you are seeking a family/divorce attorney to represent you in a divorce or child custody matter, you need one who will be an aggressive advocate for your interests and a compassionate and understanding legal counselor as you go through this difficult time. At Diwan Advocates, that is exactly what you will receive. We pride ourselves on our ability to meet the needs of our clients while giving them personal attention and service.

Law of Inheritance deals with Intestate Succession, Testamentary Succession and Partition. The laws are primary based on customary principles derived from uncodifiedpersonal laws. The Parliament has codified some of them i.e. The Indian Succession Act, 1925, The Hindu Succession Act, 1956, The Partition Act, 1893.

The Firm provides complete legal assistance in relation to drafting of Wills, deeds and other legal instruments. The Firm also drafts the legal documents i.e. Applications, Pleadings and Petition and appears before the Court of Law on behalf of its clients.