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Parag Tripathi

Parag P. Tripathi, Senior Advocate, has been in active practice since 1983 in the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court and other High Courts, Judicial Tribunals, CEGAT, CLB and MRTP and in commercial arbitrations. His areas of specialisation include: Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Direct and Indirect Tax Laws, Commercial and Corporate Laws, Foreign Investment and FEMA. Mr Tripathi joined the Chambers of Senior Advocate K.K. Venugopal in 1986. He was designated as Senior Advocate in January 2000. He served as Additional Solicitor General of India from February 5, 2008 to January 2, 2012. As Additional Solicitor General, he represented the Union of India in a wide variety of constitutional matters, taxation and socio-economic legislation in the Supreme Court. He has vast and varied experience representing Public Sector Utilities, including Maharatna and Navratna companies, in the Supreme Court and various High Courts and in domestic and international commercial arbitrations. He has extensive experience in settling Foreign Collaborations, Joint Venture Agreements and Project Finance Agreements for a large number of clients, both Indian corporates and MNCs, including the Alstom Group, flagship companies of the Tata Group and Reliance Group and telecom companies, among others.

Mr Tripathi has appeared in the Supreme Court in leading matters of Constitutional and Corporate law, including the Mandal Commission, freedom of press in reporting proceedings sub-judice, judicial review and enforceability of fundamental rights, federal structure and Centre-State relationships, appointment of Judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court, Service Law matters, the Shaw Wallace corporate dispute, medical education (minority institution), the 2G scam, CWG scam and Harshad Mehta scam. He has appeared for and consulted in a diverse range of matters that marked the shift from FERA to FEMA in post-liberalisation India. These range from early cases like Renusagar Power Company Ltd. (1994) to more recent ones involving ENRON (secondment of employees), the Motorola and Standard Chartered FEMA proceedings, PIL involving money laundering and stashing of wealth by Indian nationals in European banks, and DTAA treaties.

Mr Tripathi has regularly appeared in international arbitrations since 1978. In fact the first arbitration under SIAC Singapore held in India was argued by him in the Alstom versus HPGC case. The principal litigation matters argued by him include those related to the rights and duties of intermediaries like Facebook; FEMA and the interconnect with the Passport Act; those related to Environment Law such as the new MOPA Airport in Goa; and those related to IPR (trademarks, patents and copyright). He has argued for discharge petition in one of the related cases of 2G spectrum before the designated Court. He has consistently appeared for the Committee of Administrators of the BCCI in the Supreme Court till the charge was handed over to the elected representatives of the BCCI.

Mr Tripathi is a life member of the Supreme Court Bar Association and Delhi High Court Bar Association; a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Chapter of Union Des Advocates; and Paris member of the SAARCLAW Organizing Committee. He is Honorary Adjunct Professor of Law at Jindal Global Law University in Sonepat. He has published papers in leading law journals and actively participated as Speaker at various seminars, conferences and conventions - both national and international.