Supreme Court of India: Whether a Patently Illegal and Perverse Domestic Award can be set aside by the Supreme Court in a Curative Petition

Supreme Court of India: Whether a Patently Illegal and Perverse Domestic Award can be set aside by the Supreme Court in a Curative Petition The subject issue has been recently decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. vs. Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited Curative Petition (C) Nos.108-109…

Supreme Court of India: Standard of Scrutiny by an Appellate Court of an Award passed by an Expert Appointed as Arbitrator

Supreme Court of India: Standard of Scrutiny by an Appellate Court of an Award passed by an Expert Appointed as Arbitrator Whether a Dissenting opinion Can be treated as an Award if the Majority Award is Set Aside ? In Hindustan Construction Company Limited vs. National Highway Authority of India 2023INSC768, the Supreme Court of…

Delhi High Court: Whether Arbitral Tribunal can award damages on “guess work”, where there is no material to assess the same?

Consider a situation wherein an Employer levies 50% liquidated damages on the Contractor on account of alleged delay in execution of construction contract by the Contractor. Thus, the principal dispute between the parties was related with levying of Liquidated Damages which is referred to arbitration and consequently the arbitrator inter alia sustained the levying of…

Delhi High Court: Whether the Court has Jurisdiction and Power to Modify/Alter an Arbitral Award under Section 34 of the Indian Arbitration Act ?

Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) makes provision for the supervisory role of courts for review of arbitral award only to ensure fairness. Intervention of the court is envisaged in few circumstances only, like, when an award is in conflict with the public policy of India, which includes cases of fraud,…

Supreme Court of India: Whether the Power of A Court to Set Aside an Award Include the Power to Modify Such an Award

The National Highways Act 1956 provides provisions for statutory arbitration in cases where the Indian Government through National Highways Authority of India (“NHAI”) intends to acquire certain land and the owner of such land is not satisfied with the amount of compensation offered by NHAI. However, unlike other arbitrations, this statutory arbitration may not treat…

Supreme Court of India: Whether The Arbitral Process Could Be Interfered Under Original And Supervisory Jurisdiction Of High Courts For Arbitration Under Special Enactments?

In India, arbitration is a prescribed mode of dispute resolution under certain special enactments concerning public works contract. One such State legislation is the Gujarat Public Works Contracts Disputes Arbitration Tribunal Act, 1992. In this post, I will analyze the scope of High Court’s interference while exercising its original and supervisory jurisdiction in arbitration process…

Delhi High Court: Whether Parties Right to Cross Examine Witness in Arbitration is Subject to Arbitral Tribunal’s Discretion?

In Sukhbir Singh v. M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd O.M.P. 1118/2014 decided on 16 Jan 2020 by the Delhi High Court, the issue before the Court was whether the arbitrator’s failure to permit cross-examination of the Award Creditor’s witness renders the arbitral award liable to be set aside under Section 34 of the Act for…

Delhi High Court: Whether A Communication Claiming The Disputed Amount And Contemplating Arbitration Is A Notice Of Arbitration?

In Badri Singh Vinimay Pvt. Ltd. v. MMTC Ltd. O.M.P. 225/2015, decided on 6 January 2020 by the Delhi High Court, the award debtor challenged the award under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Arbitration Act’). In these proceedings, the award debtor contended that the proceedings of the arbitration themselves were vitiated…

Delhi & Bombay High Court: Whether Section 34 proceedings needs to be stayed if corporate insolvency against an award creditor corporate debtor is initiated during its pendency?

Once an application seeking initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of a corporate debtor is admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal, a moratorium is imposed under Section 14(1)(a) of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code), prohibiting institution of suits or continuation of pending suits or proceedings against the Corporate Debtor. Consider a…

Delhi High Court: Whether seeking termination of mandate of an arbitrator under Section 14 is a prerequisite to a petition for setting aside an award under Section 34

In Harji Engineering Works Pvt. Ltd. vs. BHEL 153 (2008) DLT 489 and later the Division of the Delhi High Court in BWL Limited vs. Union of India 2012 SCC Online Del 5873 inter alia held that the inordinate delay in pronouncement of award requires the award to be set aside. On the other hand,…