Delhi High Court rejects school's claim on 'kashmirharvard' domain name; imposes ₹50K costs

The Delhi High Court imposed costs of ₹50,000 on a Srinagar based school for misleading the court while trying to reclaim the domain name kashmirharvard.edu.in which was transferred to the Ivy League Harvard University [Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute v President and Fellows of Harvard College]..Justice Prateek Jalan said that the arguments advanced by the school showed scant regard for the limited scope of intervention with an award in an international commercial arbitration and for the process of the court.The single-judge also said that the pleas advanced by the school were contrary to the material on record.“I, therefore, consider this to be a fit case for imposition of costs against the petitioner. The petition, along with pending applications, is dismissed with costs assessed at ₹50,000 payable to the respondent [Harvard University], within 4 weeks from today,” the Court ordered.The Court also rejected the school's claim over the domain name 'kashmirharvard'. .The petitioner, Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute approached the High Court against an arbitral award under the .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (INDRP.).The sole arbitrator appointed by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) had directed transfer of the domain name kashmirharvard.edu.in registered by the school to the President and Fellows of Harvard College in the US.The school moved the High Court challenging the award..After considering the case, the Court observed that since Harvard University is based in the US, the arbitration falls under the category of “international commercial arbitration” under Section 2(1)(f) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.Justice Jalan held that there was no breach of the rules of natural justice and the award was not in conflict with the public policy of India.Consequently, the petition was rejected..Advocates Keshav Thakur, Mahesh Prasad, Malak Mathur, Prithvi Thakur and Ritik Kumar appeared for Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute.President and Fellows of Harvard College were represented by advocates RK Aggarwal, Ayushi Bansal and Vinay Padam. .[Read Judgment]