Legal services in Kolkata

The Practice, Grouped by What You Need

The list of practice areas is long, but most instructions fall into six groups. Each group below explains what it covers and, more usefully, when it is worth instructing a lawyer rather than handling the matter yourself. The question is rarely whether a dispute is serious; it is whether a step has to be taken within a fixed time, in a particular forum, on a record that will later be hard to repair.

If your matter does not fit neatly into one group, say so at the first contact. A property dispute with a criminal complaint attached, or a family separation with a business interest inside it, is common, and the choice of forum is often the whole case.

Criminal law, bail and trial

This covers FIR quashing, anticipatory and regular bail, warrant recall, remand appearances, trials before magistrates and the Sessions Court, complaints under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, and appeals and revisions. The work is procedural and time-bound: the first twenty-four hours after an arrest, and the first notice from a police station, shape much of what follows.

Instruct when an FIR names you or a family member, when a warrant has been issued, when a notice under section 35 BNSS has been served, or when a complaint is about to be filed. Waiting for the charge-sheet is rarely wise; statements recorded early are hard to correct, and a bail application moved at the remand stage is usually stronger than one moved after weeks in custody.

Civil suits and property disputes

Title and declaration suits, partition among co-sharers, injunctions against construction or dispossession, specific performance of agreements to sell, cancellation of deeds, tenancy and eviction, mutation and records-of-rights corrections, probate and letters of administration. Most of these turn on documents, a deed chain, a municipal record, a rent receipt or a will, and on limitation.

Instruct when possession is under threat, when a co-sharer refuses partition, when a seller resiles from an agreement after taking money, or when a mutation application has been rejected. Instruct early, too, where a document was signed without advice. A sale deed or power of attorney executed on unfavourable terms is far easier to challenge before possession changes hands than after.

Family and matrimonial matters

Mutual-consent and contested divorce, judicial separation, restitution of conjugal rights, maintenance for a spouse or child, custody and guardianship, domestic violence proceedings, adoption and succession. These matters run before the Family Court and, where the facts require it, the Calcutta High Court.

Instruct before signing a settlement or a joint petition, and before replying to a maintenance application. A consent agreement drafted without advice can leave a client without a share in property or without defined access to a child, and reopening it later is difficult. Where there is violence or a threat to a child's safety, instruct immediately rather than attempting mediation first.

Consumer, banking and debt recovery

Consumer complaints for defective goods, deficient services, insurance repudiation, builder delay and medical negligence before the District and State Commissions; cheque-bounce complaints and defences; bank recovery proceedings before the Debt Recovery Tribunal; objections to recovery certificates; and secured asset proceedings under the SARFAESI Act, 2002.

Instruct when a consumer complaint is approaching its limitation period, when a cheque return memo has been received and the statutory notice must go out, or when a bank has issued a demand notice or taken possession of a secured asset. In consumer matters, the written complaint and the evidence affidavit do most of the work, so the documents matter more than the argument at the hearing.

Writs and regulatory proceedings

Writs under Article 226 against state authorities, municipal and police action or inaction, cancellation of licences and permits, service and pension disputes, tender challenges, environmental and building-plan matters, and statutory appeals and revisions. The Calcutta High Court's original and appellate sides divide this work, and the correct side depends on the nature of the order challenged.

Instruct when an authority has passed an order without a hearing, when a licence has been cancelled or a tender wrongly awarded, or when a statutory appeal has been rejected on limitation. A writ is not an alternative to an appeal where an appeal exists; filing in the wrong forum can cost the client the very period within which the correct remedy had to be sought.

Business, contract and intellectual property

Commercial suits for breach of contract and recovery, arbitration petitions and enforcement of awards under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, company disputes before the National Company Law Tribunal, insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings, and trade mark, copyright and passing-off actions.

Instruct before signing a contract you have not read closely, when a counterparty has stopped paying, when an arbitration clause may have been invoked wrongly, or when a mark or work is being copied. Injunctions in intellectual property matters are time-sensitive, and a delay in writing to the infringer is often used against the claimant at the interim stage.

Choosing the Right Forum

Filing in the wrong forum is the most expensive mistake in Indian litigation, because the period spent there is usually not counted and the limitation clock keeps running. The table below is a starting point, not a substitute for reading the statute that governs the particular dispute.

Two rules cut across the table. First, limitation is calculated from the cause of action, not from the date a client decides to consult, so an early sitting is worth more than a quick one. Second, where a statute creates a dedicated tribunal, the civil court's jurisdiction is generally barred; a suit filed in the City Civil Court in a matter the tribunal owns will be returned, whatever its merits.

Questions About Instructing

Can a criminal complaint and a civil suit run at the same time?

Sometimes yes. A cheating complaint and a suit for recovery of the same money can proceed in parallel, and a writ can be filed while a departmental appeal is pending. Sometimes the law bars a second proceeding on the same cause of action. Which applies depends on the relief sought and the statute, and is decided on the papers rather than assumed.

What if my agreement has an arbitration clause?

A valid arbitration clause normally takes the dispute out of court. The clause fixes the seat, the number of arbitrators and the procedure; where it is silent or badly drafted, those questions become a separate dispute. Read the clause before filing anything, because invoking the wrong forum can cost months and, in some cases, the claim itself.

How much will my case cost?

Fees depend on the forum, the number of hearings and the complexity of the record. The chamber gives a written statement of the fee basis and the likely expenses at the outset, and explains what is included and what is billed at actuals. For a matter that will run through several stages, the fee is usually set stage-wise so the cost of each step is known before it begins.

What if I cannot come to Kolkata?

The first sitting can be by phone or video, and papers can be sent as scanned copies. If the matter requires a physical appearance or a verification, the chamber tells you at the outset so that the trip can be planned once rather than repeatedly. See the contact page to fix an appointment.