Regulatory Disputes
The regulatory disputes practice acts for clients in regulated sectors, among them oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance, aviation, banking and finance, and health and pharma. The work centres on the interpretation of regulations, and often involves approaching the courts for clarity on the scope of a regulation or the extent of a regulator's powers. Its lawyers appear before sectoral regulators, before the appellate tribunals that hear appeals from their orders, and in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
The legal framework
The statutes engaged include the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act 2006, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1992, the Insurance Act 1938 with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act 1999, the Competition Act 2002, the Banking Regulation Act 1949 and the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999. Appeals from a regulator's orders lie to the tribunal its statute designates, among them the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, the Securities Appellate Tribunal and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, and thereafter to the Supreme Court, by statutory appeal on a question of law where the statute provides one or by special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution. Where the challenge goes to jurisdiction, vires or procedure rather than the merits, it may proceed instead by writ petition before the High Courts under Article 226.
Scope
Defence of regulated entities against show cause notices, including proceedings for penalties and the cancellation of authorisations, and related disputes over performance bank guarantees.
Writ petitions challenging the vires of subordinate legislation, including regulations on transportation tariffs, exclusivity periods, common carrier declarations and pre-determined penalties.
Disputes over regulator-fixed tariffs, including retrospective application and the treatment of operators transporting their own gas through their own pipelines.
Challenges to the reach of a regulator's mandate, including whether captive self-use pipelines fall within its jurisdiction and whether the sale and supply of liquefied natural gas may occur only through a city gas distribution network.
Disputes between authorised entities over bifurcation of geographical areas and overlapping authorisations, before the regulator, the appellate tribunal and the High Court.
Appeals before the Securities Appellate Tribunal for senior executives of listed companies against orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, including under the listing obligations and disclosure requirements and unfair trade practices regulations.
Aviation regulatory matters, including tariff disputes arising from orders of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority and the interpretation of flight duty time limitation regulations applicable to airline crew.
Writ petitions for network operators seeking the timely grant of statutory permissions needed to develop pipeline networks.
Regulatory counsel work on transactions in regulated sectors, including the transfer of authorisations through acquisitions of entities holding gas-network authorisations.
Where it applies
Writing on this subject
India’s Digital Renaissance: Ushering in the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025
Rajat Pradhan, Maya Ramesh, Namya Bose · Mondaq · 18 November 2025