Delhi High Court - Orders
Delvega Capital Pte Limited & Anr vs Mr. Aman Bhatia on 26 September, 2023
Author: Manoj Kumar Ohri
Bench: Manoj Kumar Ohri
$~55
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 310/2023, 18677/2023,
18678/2023, 18679/2023
DELVEGA CAPITAL PTE LIMITED & ANR ..... Petitioners
Through: Mr Neeraj Grover, Mr Kashish Sethi,
Ms Sunidhi Gupta and Ms Ayushi
Chandra, Advocates
versus
MR. AMAN BHATIA ..... Respondent
Through: None
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR OHRI
ORDER
% 26.09.2023 I.A. 18676/2023
1. The matter has been received on transfer.
2. The present petition has been filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter, referred to as the 'A&C Act').
3. Petitioner No.1 claims itself to be a company incorporated having its headquarter in Singapore while petitioner No.2 is an associate company based in Hong Kong. The petitioners are engaged in the business of developing and implementing software based solution by using its proprietary intellectual property for facilitating trading on financial trading market such as National Stock Exchange. Various trading algorithms have been developed by the petitioner through decades of experience using sophisticated mathematical models. The petitioners are responsible for running its algorithms in a responsible manner on its clients' servers. Petitioners claim that in the aforesaid business, the primary and most valuable assets is the software source codes containing the special This is a digitally signed order. O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 310/2023 Page 1 of 4 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/09/2023 at 21:12:19 mathematical formulae. It is further claimed that the functioning of these softwares is controlled by optimized configurations which alongwith the source code run the algorithms.
4. It is claimed that somewhere in October, 2020 the respondent applied for the post of Quantitative Researcher and was recommended to work for petitioners main client i.e., Alphagrep. Subsequently, on account of his shifting to his hometown in Indore, he was allowed to work from home. He was given secure access to the petitioners' client's network and was also given access to petitioners secured Google Cloud servers where the highly sensitive and valuable source code information was used and developed. The access was given under terms of agreement dated 01.07.2021 and 22.11.2022, and respondent was obligated to comply with the confidentiality and other obligations in respect of such access. It is further claimed that on or about 03.09.2023, the directors of the petitioners' company were alarmed by use of certain unusual commands which were run on its system. The monitoring team raised the said issue with the respondent, to which respondent denied modifying any algorithms. The respondent remained on leave from 03.09.2023 till 13.09.2023 and on 14.09.2023 he tendered his resignation by email.
5. A system check revealed that the respondent had unauthorisedly access the servers on 01.09.2023 and 02.09.2023 and made malicious changes to the configurations of the Arbitrage Strategies which resulted in NSE issuing warning to the petitioners. He also made copies and summaries of configuration files using tools for bypassing the security system. The petitioners have further claimed that the respondent made changes which increased the margin requirements which could have resulted in suspension This is a digitally signed order. O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 310/2023 Page 2 of 4 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/09/2023 at 21:12:19 of the client's account and would have caused heavy losses. Respondent is also alleged to have tampered with the petitioners' trading setup on the machines and to cover up his tracks deleted all the historical records and logs. In this regard, the petitioners have relied upon the expert report of their internal I.T. team as well as report received from the client.
6. The detailed investigation is stated to be pending and for the said purpose, the petitioners seek interim measures of investigation of iMac desktop computer and Macbook laptop which were provided to the respondent during his employment and, which remains the assets of the petitioners' company. The bills of purchase are also annexed with the petition.
7. In the aforesaid backdrop, petitioners have shown an apprehension that its confidential data and source codes are likely to be further misused by the respondent, thus requiring urgent interim measures.
8. Keeping in view the aforenoted submissions, this Court is of the opinion that the petitioners have been able to make out a prima facie case. In view of the prayer made in the captioned application, Mr. Sarthak Karol, Advocate (Mob.No.9810900987) is appointed as the Local Commissioner to visit the respondent's premises at Block Air, Flat No.702 Atlanta Aura, 288/4, Nipaniya, Pipya Kumar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh and make a mirror image/copy of the data relevant to the present case stored in the aforementioned computer devices i.e., iMac desktop computer and Macbook laptop. For the said purpose, the Local Commissioner shall be assisted by an expert to be arranged and provided by the petitioners. The mirror image shall be deposited with the Registry of the Court in a sealed cover, alongwith the report. The Local Commissioner shall also be at liberty This is a digitally signed order. O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 310/2023 Page 3 of 4 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/09/2023 at 21:12:20 to seek police assistance and for which purpose, the Superintendent of Police of the concerned P.S. shall provide all such necessary assistance. The remuneration of the Local Commissioner is fixed at Rs.2,00,000/- excluding the out of pocket and incidental expenses. The Local Commissioner shall file his report within four weeks from today.
The respondent is directed to cooperate in the execution of the commission and for which purpose shall provide the passwords as may be needed to login to the computers.
9. The respondent is also restrained from directly or indirectly distributing, copying, transferring or dealing with the petitioners' proprietary information including source code, software, algorithms, data that may be in his possession in any manner whatsoever.
10. In view of the above, the present application is disposed of.
11. A copy of this order be uploaded on the website of this Court immediately. The parties/Local Commissioner shall act on the digitally signed, uploaded copy of this order.
OMP(I)(COMM.) 310/2023 Issue notice to the respondent by all permissible modes, returnable on 13.10.2023 before the Roster Bench.
MANOJ KUMAR OHRI, J SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 na This is a digitally signed order. O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 310/2023 Page 4 of 4 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/09/2023 at 21:12:20