Shally Bhasin

Shally Bhasin is a Partner with our Firm and has over 26 years of experience in Litigation.

She graduated from Law Faculty, University of Delhi in 1996 and is an Advocate on Record in the Supreme Court of India since 2004.

A veteran litigator, Shally has been involved in several impactful and consequential cases. She has been engaged in legal work across diverse sectors and industries, including – amongst others – Financial Services, Banking, Telecom, Construction, Energy, Heavy Industries, Oil & Gas, Infrastructure, etc. She regularly appears before the Supreme Court of India, various high courts and tribunals including Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (“TDSAT”), National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”), National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”), Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (“APTEL”), State Commissions, National Green Tribunal (“NGT”), etc.

In one of the land mark cases in the history of litigation in the telecom industry, Shally has represented the telecom companies right from the High Court of Kerala and TDSAT, uptill the Supreme Court of India,  involving the recovery of licence fees of around $ 7.8 billion by the Government of India.

She has also represented various clients in the Supreme Court of India; various High Courts, National Tribunals – including TDSAT, NCLAT, NCLT, and NGT – in matters related to financial services, bankruptcy, infrastructure, environment, white collar crime, tenders, breach of contract, damages, injunctions, breach of fundamental rights, notifications, taxation, winding up, amalgamation and de-merger.

In an endeavour to give back to the Society, Shally also represented certain individuals in their challenge to Section 377 IPC which resulted in decriminalization of homosexuality. She is also representing a batch of individuals and filed various writ petitions in the High Court of Delhi seeking legalization of same-sex marriage. Thereafter, the matter was transferred to the Supreme Court of India and is now pending for judgment.

Professional Memberships

• Supreme Court Advocate on Record Association
• Supreme Court Bar Association
• Bar Council of Delhi

Education

• B.A (Eng. Hons), St Mary’s College, Shillong
• LLB from University of Delhi

TELECOM SECTOR:

• Represented telecom companies before the Supreme Court and the High Court of Kerala and TDSAT in one of the biggest telecommunications industry matters involving the recovery of licence fees of around $ 7.8 billion by the government. The Supreme Court has settled the definition of ‘adjusted gross revenue’ as provided in the license agreement between the service providers and DoT. This led to the Government of India prospectively amending the definition to make it more benign for the service providers.
• Represented telecom companies in the Supreme Court against demands of One Time Spectrum Charge (OTSC) of INR 3500 crores and INR 2000 crores respectively. After the 2G judgment, DOT imposed a special charge namely OTSC on all operators for having spectrum above 4.2 MHz GSM/2.5 MHz CDMA, as the said spectrum was allocated to the operators bundled with the license.
• Represented a telecom company before the TDSAT in its petition challenging the penalty of INR 2,000 crores Imposed by DoT for not providing/augmenting Points of Interconnections (PoIs) to another Telecom Company on time, which caused violation of Quality of Service Regulations, 2009. The said penalty has been stayed by the TDSAT. The appeal against this order is pending in the Supreme Court.
• Represented a conglomerate before TDSAT against a demand of license fee of INR 1500 crores raised by DoT on financial services income of an NBFC holding an Internet Service Provider license for captive use. The said demand has been stayed by the TDSAT.

BANKING SECTOR:

• Represented various companies in the Supreme Court challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s Circular dated 12.02.2018 which had changed the process of resolution of debt of corporate debtors. The Circular mandated compulsory resolution under Insolvency Code without recourse to out of court resolution mechanisms and debt re-structuring programs. The Supreme Court upheld challenges raised on the ground that the Impugned Circular was ultra vires the provisions of Banking Regulation Act.
• Represented a leading bank before the Supreme Court against a challenge to the judgment of the High Court of Bombay which declared the actions of an Administrator to write down Additional Tier – 1 Bonds for an Amount of INR 8415 Crores, ultra vires. The Supreme Court has stayed the judgment of the High Court of Bombay.

INSOLVENCY AND BANKRUPTCY CODE

• Represented personal guarantor in the Delhi High Court in a writ petition against whom a Public Sector Bank had initiated insolvency against the default of loan of INR 1600 Crores taken by debtor.
• Represented Personal Guarantors before the Supreme Court of India in an challenge to the selective implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 against the Personal Guarantors of Corporate Debtors.
• Represented the Resolution professional before the Supreme Court, NCLAT and NCLT in various applications seeking directions against operational creditors, for ensuring the survival of the Corporate Debtor as a going concern during the insolvency resolution process.

WHITE COLLAR:

• Represented several individuals in the Supreme Court in a batch of over 240 matters concerning various issues including whether PMLA is ‘criminal law’ that creates a new offence called ‘money laundering’, defines the ingredients of the offence, provides for investigation and trial, and provides for punishment thereof.
• Represented individuals and companies before the Trial Court in respect of various financial offences by the Enforcement Directorate, SFIO, FIU etc.
• Represented individuals alleged of financial frauds before the High Court and Supreme Court to obtain regular bail, interim bai, etc.

ARBITRATION:

• Represented the Government of India in two arbitrations against Foreign Défense Equipment Companies involving claims of over INR 25,000 crores each.
• Represented an Wind Turbine Manufacturer before the Arbitral Tribunal claiming liquidated damages of INR 500 Crores for the breach of contract by the Independent Power Producer.
• Advised Indian counterpart of a foreign company in an Arbitration initiated by the Foreign Investor against the Government of India for recovery of investment made in the Indian Company to the tune of INR 3000 Crores.