New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has directed a Germany-headquartered company to immediately resume its software support services to Nayara Energy Limited despite sanctions imposed on the Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed petroleum company under the European Council Regulation.
Justice Vikas Mahajan observed that Nayara Energy caters to approximately 8 per cent of India’s energy needs, and therefore, an uninterrupted flow of technical support services was “absolutely essential” for such “critical infrastructure”.
Justice Mahajan passed the interim order on September 21 on a lawsuit by Nayara Energy, formerly Essar Oil Limited, against SAP India Private Limited after the latter “unilaterally” blocked the plaintiff’s access to its technical support services in July 2025 despite an agreement between the parties.
The plaintiff was informed that its name had been included in the “EU Sanctions list” concerning “restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”, and SAP India, being an EU-headquartered company, was compelled to take immediate steps to ensure compliance.
Nayara Energy operates a large-scale oil refinery and manages a network of retail fuel outlets across the country.
The court said the “unilateral and abrupt suspension” of the support services was ex facie illegal and in breach of the mutually agreed contractual stipulations between the parties, and at the stage of interim relief, SAP India cannot rely on EU Regulations to avoid its contractual obligations under Indian law.
“The application is allowed and the defendant no.1 (SAP India) is directed to restore the status quo ante as it existed prior to 24.07.2025, by immediately resuming all enterprise and software support services to the plaintiff under the respective agreements,” the court ordered.
The court stated that without the defendant’s support services, Nayara Energy’s entire software ecosystem becomes vulnerable to unresolvable system failures, security breaches and critical software bugs, and any migration to an alternative support framework would inevitably entail significant delays, substantial costs, and operational disruptions.
“Maintaining this critical software infrastructure without disruption assumes relevance particularly in light of the volatile geopolitical situation and the current oil crisis stemming from the USA/Israel war with Iran, as argued by the plaintiff,” it said.
“It is also pleaded by the plaintiff and not controverted by defendant no.1 that the plaintiff caters to approximately 8% of India’s energy needs. For critical infrastructure of this scale, an uninterrupted flow of technical support services is absolutely essential,” added the court.
SAP India opposed the prayer for interim relief, contending that the support services are provided through its parent company in Germany and it was impossible to render its services without violating the EU sanctions.
The court, however, said that the ‘Order Forms’ made it “abundantly clear” that there were no provisions permitting the termination of the licences and support services based on ‘foreign sanctions’ or ‘at will’.
It further said that providing digital support services was not strictly confined to a single geographical location and it was “highly improbable” that a multinational technology conglomerate having a vast network of offices, servers and a customer base across the globe was technologically or operationally incapacitated from routing its online support services through any of its non-EU regional hubs. PTI ADS RT
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(PTI News)
