Dato' Nitin Nadkarni

On the court record

A commercial-and-regulatory litigation practice featuring housing-development law and judicial review across all three court tiers.

Dato' Nitin Nadkarni practises across the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan), the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan), and the reported decisions describe a commercial and regulatory litigation practice. A distinctive strand is housing-development law under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1976 (HDA 1976), engaging the statutory scheme that governs the relationship between developers and purchasers and the regulator's oversight of it.

Judicial review ("semakan kehakiman") is prominent: several matters are applications challenging the decisions of regulators and administrative bodies, including appeals by the Ministry of Domestic Trade ("KPDN") against orders made below. Appearing largely as appellant and applicant, but also as respondent and intervener, the practice is instructed both by parties resisting regulatory action and, on the record, in matters where the regulator's own decision is under challenge. Alongside the regulatory work sit contract disputes, tax questions, company matters and land litigation.

The work sits at the meeting point of private commercial rights and public regulation. In the HDA and judicial-review matters the argument is about the scope of a statutory scheme and whether a regulator acted within its powers and fairly; in the contract and company matters it is about the enforceability of agreements and the resolution of corporate disputes. The reported reasons frequently address the interpretation of the governing statute and the procedural route — appeal or judicial review — by which a decision may be challenged.

The overall profile is a commercial-and-regulatory litigation practice conducted at every tier up to the Federal Court, with housing development and administrative review as recurring specialities. The matters turn on statutory interpretation, the limits of regulatory power, and the enforcement of commercial arrangements, rather than on any criminal element, marking a practice that bridges private commercial disputes and public-law challenge. The housing-development matters are a recurring anchor, engaging the balance the Act strikes between developers and the purchasers the licensing scheme is designed to protect.