By Raunak Shah, General Secretary, Moot Court Association (GLC)

The Moot Court Association of Government Law College organized the 7th edition of the Nani Palkhivala Memorial National Tax Moot Court Competition from the 7th to the 9th of October, 2010 in association with the All India Federation of Tax Practitioners and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association.

The moot is a fitting tribute to the legendary Shri Nani A. Palkhivala, a connoisseur in Taxation and Constitutional Law, and a man who epitomized the Indian legal system. The Moot has the distinction of being India’s first and has long been the only moot in the country that is solely based exclusively on Taxation Law. The Government Law College, Mumbai has been a premier institution for legal education in India which boasts of a rich alumni that have been responsible for shaping the legal pages of India. The alumni include the likes of the Hon’ble President of India, Her Excellency Smt. Pratibha Patil and Shri Justice S. H. Kapadia, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India.

The moot problem was based on the contemporary issue of a foreign company providing offshore services without having any permanent establishment in India and their tax liability under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs).

This moot enjoys the distinction of being the only moot in the country where law students are provided with the opportunity to argue in the courtrooms of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) itself. These rounds of argument are judged by the Hon’ble Members of the ITAT as well as professional advocates & chartered accountants from the field of tax culminating with the Final Rounds of Argument judged this year by a full bench of 1 Former Supreme Court Judge and 2 Sitting Judges of the Bombay High Court. This year, the competition witnessed the participation of 25 of the finest Law Institutions from across India.

The Inaugural Function of the Competition was held on the 7th of October, 2010, presided over by the Chief Guest, Hon’ble Mr. R. V. Easwar, President, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal & the Guest of Honour, Hon’ble Mr. D. Manmohan, Vice President, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The Function also included several members of the ITAT as well as Mr. Dinesh Vyas, President, ITAT Bar Association, Mr. M. L. Patodi, National President, All India Federation of Tax Practitioners and Dr. K. Shivaram, Chairman, Palkhivala Foundation & Research Committee, AIFTP.

The Preliminary Rounds of Argument were judged by Hon’ble Members of the ITAT as well as professionals from the Tax Field. The subsequent Quarter Final Rounds were judged by senior advocates and chartered accountants including Mr. Percy Pardiwala, Mr. Kishor Karia, Mrs. Arati Vissanji, Mr. Vikram Nankani, Mr. Hiro Rai amongst others. The Semi Final Rounds of argument were judged by Senior Members of the ITAT including the Vice President, Hon’ble Mr. D. Manmohan. The final rounds of argument were held at the Y.B. Chavan Centre, Nariman Point, Mumbai and were judged by Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. N. Srikrishna, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India; Hon’ble Mr. Justice P. B. Majmudar, Judge, Bombay High Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. M. Savant, Judge, Bombay High Court. The final rounds were decorated by some outstanding advocacy displayed by the 2 Finalist Teams, University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab and NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad added by the brilliance and immaculately timed moments of humour by Justice Srikrishna that had the entire audience spellbound.

The winners trophy was bagged by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad while University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab were runners-up. The winning team received a magnificent trophy, a cash prize of Rs. 7,500 as well as a chance to intern with renowned International Tax Law Firm, Nishith Desai & Associates. The winners also received the AIFTP Journal & Times, AIFTP Publications as well as membership forms of the AIFTP. The runners up were awarded a trophy, a cash prize of Rs. 5,000, as well as the AIFTP Journal & Times and AIFTP Publications.

The Best Speaker & 2nd Best Speaker of the moot were decided by the individual speaker scores cumulated from the various rounds. The Best Speaker this year was Varun Thomas from National Law School of India University, Bangalore and the 2nd Best Speaker was Prateek Benny Andharia from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Both speakers received a cash prize of Rs. 3000 & Rs. 2000 respectively as well as a chance to intern with Economic Law’s Practice, a reputed Tax Firm in Mumbai.

The Best Memorial was won by Government Law College, Mumbai, and the Best Researcher was Devangna Maini of NLIU, Bhopal, who was also offered an internship by Nishith Desai & Associates.