Dua Associates > New Delhi, India > Firm Profile

Client Testimonials

CLIENT: Vivek Subramanian

COMPANY/FIRM: Fourth Partner Energy

TESTIMONIAL: “We use Dua for the entire spectrum of our activities – PPA structuring and verifications, corporate finance, litigation, land verification and due diligence, etc.,” says Vivek Subramanian, co-founder and executive director at Fourth Partner Energy. “We would very strongly endorse the capabilities of partners Manoj Menon and Sharan Balasubramanian. There are times [when my team members] bypass the use of our in-house legal team for some tasks, as they have comfort on the turnaround time and quality from the Dua team. Kudos to them.”

CLIENT: Manoj Jain

COMPANY/FIRM: Wipro Enterprises

TESTIMONIAL: “The depth of knowledge and maturity that lawyers at Dua Associates display, and their opinions on how to handle a particular legal issue, is remarkable”.

TESTIMONIAL: A client, who also remains nameless, says: “Hiring Dua Associates turned out to be the best decision of my litigant career … They don’t have an agenda other than to make their client succeed.”

CLIENT: David Wright, Legal & HR director, Asia-Pacific

COMPANY/FIRM: Kodak Australia

TESTIMONIAL: “Shiraz is extremely capable in the anti-dumping arena,” says David Wright, legal and HR director for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Kodak Australia. “She has very good client relationship skills and … is able to provide uniformly excellent service. Anti-dumping is a very complex and very technical area, and the consequences of an adverse finding can be devastating.”

CLIENT: WILLIAM C. HECK, Partner

COMPANY/FIRM: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

TESTIMONIAL: I have worked with Shiraz Patodia in Indian antidumping and countervailing investigations for about 20 years. I am deeply impressed by her experience in antidumping and countervailing. Shiraz provides us a complete strategy for each company in each case, often gives us very useful legal opinion and replies to our questions quickly.

CLIENT: Alamjit Singh Sekhon, Commercial Director

COMPANY/FIRM: Fromageries Bel India Private Limited

TESTIMONIAL: “It is great to have an awesome business partner like you watchingout for our interests knowing that you are there to take care. Since the beginning of our working relationship, I have always counted on your guidance and will continue to do in the future as well.”

Diversity/Community

Dua Associates is appearing for Goolrookh M. Gupta, a Parsi Zoroastrian lady, a Petitioner before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in a Special Leave Petition No. 18889/2012 titled Mrs. Goolrokh M. Gupta v. Mr. Sam Rusi Chothia & Ors. The Special Leave Petition has been filed against the judgment and order of the Hon’ble Gujarat High Court dated March 23, 2012 wherein the High Court held that a woman born as a Parsi  ( by race) and initiated into the Zoroastrian religion by her avid Zoroastrian parents, loses her Zoroastrian religion by virtue of her marriage to a non-Zoroastrian, Hindu male. This view was taken, notwithstanding that her marriage was solemnized under the liberal and secular Special Marriage Act of 1954, without her ever having renounced her Zoroastrian faith/religion.

 The matter relates to the constitutional protection accorded to all individuals under Article 21, 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India which has been whittled down and arbitrarily restricted by the Respondents Trustees by refusing to recognize Mrs. Goolrookh M. Gupta and other such women as Parsi Zoroastrian, and further preventing their right to follow their religious practices inter alia including performing the last rights of her parents. 

In the said Judgment, the Hon’ble High Court have inter alia held that upon her marriage, a woman is “deemed” and“presumed” to have acquired the religious status of her husband . Curiously, the High Court’s views are not restricted to Parsi women alone.

Ms Shiraz Patodia
Advocate & Solicitor
Senior Partner

As part of its CSR initiatives, Dua Associates provides financial assistance for education of girl children. The firm strongly believes that access to gender justice will enable creation of a just and equitable society and encourage Pro Bono legal services.

In 2016, the firm became a member of Trust Law pro bono programme of Thompson Reuters Foundation, UK (with assistance rendered by Mr Chandra Shekhar Mishra). Through Trust Law, the firm assisted Schoolgoers Pty Ltd, an Australian not-for-profit company in incorporating its Indian affiliate. The firm is currently advising (here too, with assistance provided by Mr Mishra) My Choices Foundation, an NGO working against domestic violence and sex trafficking.

Mr. Robin R. David is Partner on the civil litigation panel of iProbono the platform that connects civil society organizations to legal professionals. Mr. David has been a panel-lawyer of Delhi High Court Legal Aid Services Committee for the past nine years and the firm has rendered legal aid in about hundred matters of varied nature.

The firm has represented a Canadian couple before the Delhi High Court in a child adoption case where directions were issued to the Central and State adoption agencies to take steps to enable the couple to adopt a child after the death of both parents, who were rag pickers. In August 2017, the firm represented slum dwellers before the Delhi High Court against forcible eviction of slum residents in East Delhi for a highway project. The Delhi High Court directed Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to allot residential flats to fourteen families under the slum policy of Delhi. Mr. David is Amicus Curiae panel counsel for the Supreme Court of India. In March 2017, as amicus,
Mr. David appeared for one Shiv Kumar an octogenarian, who was awarded life imprisonment and was granted bail by the Supreme Court of India.   

Mr Robin David
Advocate
Partner

Notable Cases

1. Advised TVS Singapore through TVS Motor India on inter alia the following overseas acquisitions in Switzerland and Croatia.
   1. acquisition of around 80% stake in GO AG, a Swiss company, engaged in business of developing and building technically advanced products for electric mobility solutions including e-bikes, e-cargo bikes and e-scooters. This was an overseas  acquisition by TVS overseas entity.
   2. acquisition of a controlling interest (~ 50%) by way of primary and secondary investment in Greyp Bikes d.o.o. (Target), a Croatia based company, engaged in the business of focusing on development of smart IoT e-bike solutions, design and production of e-bikes and operating software and platform to enhance user experience and data collection.
2. Advised SNP SE and their German law firm, RITTERSHAUS Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB on its majority acquisition of another German company, Exa AG, having an Indian affiliate, Exa-AG India Private Limited. The services rendered covered legal due diligence and advice on the global transaction documents to cover issues and conditions precedent from Indian law including company law and foreign exchange laws. This transaction was significant as several compliances related advise was rendered to protect the interests of our German client and suggested appropriate specific indemnity and other indemnification protections.
3. Dua Associates advised Blaser Swisslube in preparation of the joint petition for sanction of the scheme of arrangement with Blaser Swisslube Solutions India Private Limited (BSSPL) for the transfer and vesting of the wholesale trading business of Blaser Swisslube as a going concern to BSSPL in exchange for the shares of BSSPL to be issued to the shareholders of Blaser Swisslube.
4. Dua Associates advised Mahindra Logistics in their acquisition of approximately 60% stake in ZipZap Logistics, a last-mile logistics service provider that operates under the brand ‘Whizzard’. This was effected through a combination of primary and secondary transactions in two tranches. The firm assisted Mahindra Logistics in structuring and negotiating the transaction documents as well as in conducting a due diligence of the target company. The acquisition will complement Mahindra Logistics’ existing last-mile delivery business and EDeL, its electric vehicle (EV) based delivery services. Expanding technology-based last-mile services is an integral part of the company’s growth strategy and this transaction will help accelerate addition of technology, geographical coverage and operational capabilities.
5. Dua Associates assisted Hyderabad-based Fourth Partner Energy in its acquisition of the onsite distributed 140 MW solar generation portfolio of ReNew Power .The assets, are spread over 100 pan-India projects, set up at facilities where the renewable energy produced is consumed there itself. Most of these projects are operational.
6. Dua Associates assisted Maniv Mobility II L.P, Maniv Mobility II A.L.P which is a venture capital firm investing globally across the automotive, transportation, energy, and logistics spaces, in a matter related to an investment in the share capital of World of River Private Limited by subscription to equity shares and preference shares issued by World of River Private Limited –  a start up with focus on  manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers activities across the India.
7. The Firm represented two companies namely Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube (Thailand) Co, Ltd and Alconix Logistics (Thailand) Ltd. in a recently concluded anti-subsidy investigation concerning import of Copper Tubes and Pipes from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. This investigation was initiated by the DGTR suo-moto based on a representation filed by Bombay Metal Exchange. Dua Associates filed the response to the exporter’s questionnaire as well as a comprehensive injury defence substantiating a nil rate of duty for Kobelco and Alconix. The Firm represented the Kobelco and Alconix in oral hearings, filed comments and submissions throughout the investigation and demonstrated that the companies have not received countervailing subsidy on goods exported to India. The Firm was able to secure the exclusion of certain product categories from the scope of investigation.  In addition, based on the submissions made by the Firm, Kobelco and Alconix were granted a Nil rate of duty.
8. Dua Associates represented the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products ‘CCCMHPIE’ and its members namely Zhejiang Apeloa Kangyu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Yuanhong Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Medicines & Health Products Import & Export Co., Ltd., Zhejiang East-Asia Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Anhui Biocompounds Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Sinopharm Healthcare Technology (Henan) Corporation for injury defence in an anti-dumping investigation concerning exports of ‘Ofloxacin and its intermediates’ from China PR. The firm also represented Zhejiang Apeloa Kangyu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd for dumping and injury determination. The product subjected to investigation was defined as ‘Ofloxacin and its intermediates’ used to treat certain infections including bronchitis, pneumonia, and infection of the skin, bladder, urinary tract, reproductive organs, and prostate. In medical parlance, Ofloxacin is in a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones and works by killing bacteria that cause infections. Considering the downstream use of the product, the Central Government has not issued the notification levying anti-dumping duty within prescribed timeline and no anti-dumping duty is payable.
9. The firm represents Henan Ancai Group in anti-dumping investigation sunset review concerning imports of Textured Tempered Glass from China PR. Prior to the present investigation, the firm has also represented Ancai Group in the original investigation. Based on representation filed by Dua Associates, the Ministry of Finance rejected the recommendation by the DGTR in the sunset review. As a result, the recommendation of the DGTR is not implemented and the duty imposed in the oral investigation ceased to exist without any extension.
10. Dua Associates represented Otsuka Chemicals (India) Private Limited (“Otsuka”) in the arbitration initiated by the contractor arising out of a contract for construction of a GCLE project including Manufacture, Supply, Fabrication and Erection of Equipment, Piping Systems, Instrumentation and Electrical Material at Otsuka’s site in Rajasthan. GCLE is a vital drug intermediate which has a very high demand and usage in India as an ingredient to produce several antibiotics.The primary claims raised by the contractor pertain to purported extra work carried out which are not covered within the contractual scope of work. This was a complex arbitration requiring interpretation of multiple contractual documents, an understanding of engineering terms and engineering drawings called piping and instrumentation diagrams. In the recent arbitral award published, Otsuka succeeded in these proceedings as the contractor’s claims were dismissed in their entirety.