Jharkhand HC Directs JUIDCO To Pay Eagle Infra's Dues, Holds Guarantee Release Admits Completion

The Jharkhand High Court on 15 July held that a public authority cannot withhold admitted contractual dues after releasing a contractor's performance bank guarantee, as such release shows that the authority accepted the contractor's satisfactory completion of contractual obligations. Justice Ananda Sen allowed Eagle Infra India Limited's writ petition and directed Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (JUIDCO) to clear the contractor's pending dues under the Harmu River...

Delhi High Court Rules Section 43(3) Of Arbitration Act Cannot Save Void Arbitration Clause

The Delhi High Court has recently held that a provision empowering courts to extend the contractual time for commencing arbitration in cases of undue hardship cannot, by itself, validate a contractual clause that is otherwise void under the law.Referring to Section 43(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the court observed,"The provision does not validate or positively enact the enforceability of contractual time-bar clauses. It addresses only the limited question of whether a court...

Delhi High Court Upholds Award In Turner Morrison's Construction Cost Recovery Dispute Against NIRLAC

The Delhi High Court on 16 July held that Courts cannot interfere under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act with an arbitral tribunal's plausible interpretation of a contract merely because another view is possible, while dismissing Turner Morrison Ltd.'s appeal against parts of an award. A Division Bench of Justices Anil Kshetrapal and Amit Mahajan upheld the tribunal's interpretation of the Construction Agreement with the Namgyal Institute for Research on Ladakhi Art and...

Delhi High Court Upholds ₹662 Crore Toyo-L&T Award, Says Contract Interpretation Cannot Be Revisited

The Delhi High Court on 15 July upheld an arbitral award of around Rs. 662 crore in favour of the consortium of Toyo Engineering Corporation and Larsen & Toubro Limited, holding that an arbitral tribunal's plausible interpretation of contractual terms cannot be re-examined under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Justice Amit Bansal dismissed the petition filed by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) challenging the award, holding that the arbitral tribunal had...

Delhi High Court Upholds Arbitral Award, Says Tribunal Cannot Revisit Merits After Passing Award

The Delhi High Court has held that once an arbitral award is passed, the arbitral tribunal becomes functus officio and cannot reopen the merits of its decision. Its powers thereafter are confined to correcting computational, clerical, typographical, or similar errors. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar delivered the ruling while dismissing cross-petitions filed by Supreme Advertising Private Limited and Genus Power Infrastructures Limited. The court observed, "Once an award is rendered, the...

Calcutta High Court Upholds Arbitral Award Rejecting ₹205.70 Crore Claims Against KMRCL

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by ITD-ITD CEM Joint Venture and upheld an arbitral award rejecting its claims of about ₹205.70 crore against Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (KMRCL). It found no ground to interfere with the tribunal's conclusions or the earlier order refusing to set aside the award. A division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi upheld the May 8, 2026 judgment of the Single Judge. It held, "We are of the view that the...

Party Cannot Reopen Maintainability Of Fresh Arbitration After Challenging Earlier Award: MP High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has recently held that a party cannot reopen the issue of maintainability at the stage of appointment of an arbitrator after having challenged an earlier arbitral award and after a court permitted fresh arbitration if disputes persisted. The ruling came while the court appointed a fresh arbitrator to adjudicate a dispute between MSP Infrastructures Limited and Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation Ltd. (MPRDCL). Justice Deepak Khot held that the question of...

Bombay High Court Appoints Arbitrator In GE Power-Unistar Dispute Despite Defective Section 21 Notice

The Bombay High Court on 14 July held that a defective notice invoking arbitration does not invalidate the commencement of arbitral proceedings where the arbitration agreement has been invoked and the disputes between the parties are clearly identified. Justice Arun R. Pedneker appointed former Bombay High Court Judge Justice Anuja Prabhudessai as the sole arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute between Unistar Metals Private Limited and GE Power Limited under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and...

Arbitrator's Hasty Closure of Evidence During COVID Violated Section 18, Vitiating Award: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has set aside an arbitral award after finding that the arbitrator unnecessarily hastened to close a party's right to lead evidence during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Court held that such treatment violated the requirement under Section 18 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to treat the parties equally and give each side a full opportunity to present its case. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D.N. Ray set aside...

Delhi High Court Says NHAI Cannot Avoid Payments After PCC Issuance, Upholds ₹411 Crore Escrow Awards

The Delhi High Court on 9 July held that a party cannot avoid contractual obligations arising from a Provisional Completion Certificate (PCC) after its issuance by subsequently keeping the certificate in abeyance. A Division Bench comprising Justices V. Kameswar Rao and Vinod Kumar dismissed two appeals filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) against lender banks led by South Indian Bank Limited. It observed: “The aforesaid conclusion of the learned Tribunal and the learned...

High Courts Should Exercise Caution Before Invoking Article 227 In Ongoing Arbitration: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that High Courts should exercise "extreme circumspection" before using their supervisory powers to interfere with ongoing arbitral proceedings. It held that orders rejecting jurisdictional objections during arbitration are ordinarily challengeable only after the final arbitral award. A bench of Justice K.V. Viswanathan and Justice Vijay Bishnoi observed that the constitutional power of High Courts cannot be taken away. At the same time, it observed that the...

Party Aware Of Arbitration Can't Challenge Unilateral Arbitrator's Appointment For First Time In Appeal: Madras HC

The Madras High Court has held that a party that knew of arbitral proceedings, sought adjournments, and then remained ex parte cannot raise a challenge to the unilateral appointment of the arbitrator for the first time in a Section 37 appeal after remaining silent for nearly ten years. A Division Bench of Justice P. Velmurugan and Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi dismissed an appeal by Nirmal Datacomm Private Limited and others against an arbitral award directing them to pay Redington...