ARBITRATION
Delhi High Court Sets Aside ₹6.35 Crore Award Over Unilateral Arbitrator Appointment By Defence Ministry
The Delhi High Court has set aside a ₹6.35 crore arbitral award in favour of Goodrich Foodtech Ltd. in a dispute with the Ministry of Defence over contracts for supplying malted milk food with cocoa.Justice Subramonium Prasad held that the unilateral appointment of the arbitrator by the Union through its Competent Financial Authority was invalid under Section 12(5) read with the Seventh Schedule of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The court found that the authority was part of the...
Supreme Court Replaces Justice Arun Mishra With Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul As Arbitrator In Adani-RVUNL Dispute
The Supreme Court has recently replaced Justice Arun Mishra with former judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul as sole arbitrator in a dispute between Adani-linked Parsa Kente Collieries Ltd. and Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. To that extent, the court has modified the Rajasthan High Court's July 3, 2026 order appointing Justice Mishra as the sole arbitrator.The dispute arises from their agreement for mining and supply of coal from the Parsa East and Kanta Basan blocks.A bench of Chief...
General Body Approval Not A Formality In Housing Society Redevelopment: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court has held that approval of a housing society's General Body cannot be treated as a mere formality in redevelopment, observing that members surrender possession of their existing homes and thereafter receive reconstructed flats.“Redevelopment permanently affects rights of all members because they surrender possession of their existing premises and thereafter receive reconstructed flats. Therefore, approval of the General Body cannot be treated as formality,” Justice Amit...
Arbitral Award May Bring 'Finality On Paper', But Mediation Can Bring 'True Accord': CJI Surya Kant
Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Friday said arbitration and mediation serve different purposes in dispute resolution, with arbitration providing a reasoned, binding award, while mediation can give parties greater ownership over the outcome and bring them to a “true accord”.“Finality on paper and finality in fact are not always the same inheritance,” CJI Kant said, noting that a binding arbitral award may be followed by challenges to its execution and therefore “does not bring...
Supreme Court Refers Non-Signatory Consultant Shareholder To Arbitration In Share Acquisition Dispute
The Supreme Court has held that a non-signatory consultant-shareholder whose performance under a separate Share Purchase Agreement is fundamental to completing a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) can be treated as a "veritable party" to the settlement's arbitration agreement. Allowing an appeal filed by KKH Finvest Private Limited and Sensorise Digital Services Private Limited, a Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva observed, "it is clear that the performance of his...
Delhi High Court Upholds ₹9.92 Lakh Award Against Vantage, Rejects Recovery Of RBI Penalties From Supplier
The Delhi High Court on 5 August upheld an award directing Vantage Integrated Securities Solution Pvt. Ltd. to pay Rs. 9.92 lakh to Spark Technologies Pvt. Ltd., holding that the former's unilateral notice stating that it would recover any liquidated damages imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from the latter did not create a binding contractual obligation. A Division Bench of Justices Anil Kshetrapal and Shail Jain noted that liquidated damages imposed by a party's client under a...
Pre-2015 Arbitrator Appointment Void Only Without Contractual Authority Or Consent: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court on 4 August held that an executing court cannot refuse enforcement of an arbitral award arising from proceedings initiated before the 2015 amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 merely because the arbitrator was appointed unilaterally, unless the appointment lacked contractual authority and was made without the other party's consent. Justice Jitendra Jain held that pre-23 October 2015 arbitral awards remain enforceable where the arbitration agreement named...
Arbitrators Can Decide Contractual Tax Disputes, Not Statutory Tax Issues: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has recently held that tax disputes between contracting parties, where a party must bear or reimburse a tax, may be resolved through arbitration. However, questions involving statutory tax rates, classification, assessment or quantification remain within the exclusive domain of tax authorities. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh partly set aside the GST-related portions of an arbitral award granting over...
J&K And Ladakh HC Holds Past Arbitration No Bar In Refund Claim, Directs SKUAST-J To Release Deposit
On 3 August, the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court held that a contractor's claim for refund of earnest money and performance security cannot be rejected merely because it was not raised in earlier arbitration proceedings over delayed payments. A Bench of Justice Sanjay Parihar directed Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu to refund Rs. 29 lakh deposited by Construction Engineer for a boys' hostel project and held that the refund claim was not barred...
Public Infrastructure Nature Of Project No Bar To Interim Relief Under Arbitration Act: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court has ruled that the public infrastructure nature of a project does not, by itself, prevent courts from granting interim protection under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. It observed that courts must balance the parties' commercial rights while ensuring that public projects are not delayed."Merely because the project relates to public infrastructure, it does not take away the jurisdiction of this court under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The court is...
Supreme Court Allows Centre To Withdraw SLP Against Vedanta In Rajasthan Oil Block Dispute
The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the Union of India to withdraw its special leave petition challenging a Delhi High Court judgment involving Vedanta's Rajasthan oil block after observing that the appeal had become infructuous in view of the subsequent final arbitral award. The dispute concerns the preparation of quarterly profit petroleum accounts under the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) governing the Rajasthan RJ-ON-90/1 oil block. The Delhi High Court on July 11, 2025 had...