Ready to Proceed With Hearing in Nissan Case, Tamil Nadu Govt Informs Madras HC

The Tamil Nadu government informed the Madras High Court that it was ready to proceed with the hearing in the case it filed against Japanese auto-maker Nissan and that it need not be deferred.

Earlier, when the case had come up before Justice Anita Sumanth, senior counsel P S Raman, appearing for Nissan, had hinted at the possibility of an amicable solution with the government.

However, Advocate General Vijay Narayan, appearing for the government, insisted that the court hear its plea to stall the international arbitration initiated by Nissan and grant interim relief.

"We are aggrieved by the international arbitration, there is some urgency on our side. We are ready to proceed with the hearing of the case and the court need not defer the hearing," he said.

To this, the judge asked, "What is the urgency when Tamil Nadu is not even a party to the arbitration? How is the application maintainable?"

The advocate general said the state government and Nissan had signed an arbitration agreement and "therefore, the application is very well maintainable".

But the senior counsel for Nissan pleaded with the court to post the hearing to June, after the summer vacation, as there was no urgency.

"Even the next hearing of the arbitration proceedings is scheduled only on November 6," he said.

Recording the submissions, the judge posted the plea to April 5 to decide on the maintainability of the application.

On March 16, Nissan had informed the court that the state had commenced talks with the company and urged it to defer the hearing of the plea.

As no one represented the state when the plea was taken up, the judge had posted the matter to today for the state to clear its stand.

In December last, the state government had moved the court, seeking an interim injunction against Nissan from proceeding with its arbitration against India over alleged unpaid tax refunds of nearly USD 770 million.

The state had alleged that Nissan invoked the international arbitration clause of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Japan to "coerce the Tamil Nadu government."

However, the Centre had filed an affidavit, saying the Tamil Nadu government did not have a locus standi to challenge the international arbitration proceedings initiated by Nissan against India.

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