High Courts

Employee's Death During Appeal Does Not Nullify Disciplinary Punishment: Punjab & Haryana High Court
The Punjab & Haryana High Court on 2 September held that an employee's death during the pendency of a departmental appeal does not automatically nullify a disciplinary punishment imposed during his lifetime. Justice Sandeep Moudgil dismissed a writ petition filed by Sukhjinder Singh, son of former Punjab State Cooperative Supply & Marketing Federation Ltd. (Markfed) Branch Officer M.S. Cheema, challenging the reduction of his father's pay by two stages for calculating retiral dues over...

Judge Who Passed Earlier Interim Order Not Barred From Deciding Challenge To Arbitral Award: Sikkim High Court
The Sikkim High Court has held that a judge who earlier decided an application for interim protection in an arbitration dispute does not have to automatically recuse from hearing a subsequent challenge to the arbitral award arising from the same arbitration. Justice Bhaskar Raj Pradhan observed that automatic recusal would not be required unless the State of Sikkim could demonstrate a real and reasonable apprehension of bias. Allowing such a recusal, according to the court, would be akin to...

Unilateral Arbitrator Appointment Can't Be Ground To Suo Motu Reject Award Execution: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court on 31 August held that an Executing Court cannot suo motu refuse to enforce an arbitral award on the ground that the arbitrator was unilaterally appointed when the award-debtors have neither challenged the award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 nor contested its execution. Justice P.B. Balaji allowed two civil revision petitions filed by Sundaram Finance Limited against the award-debtors, set aside the orders refusing execution and directed...

LiveLawBiz Arbitration Cases Weekly Digest: September 7 - September 12, 2026
NOMINAL INDEXKirloskar Brothers Limited v. Atul Chandrakant Kirloskar & Ors., 2026 LLBiz SC 305 National Skill Development Corporation v. Surya Wires Private Limited & Ors., 2026 LLBiz SC 302 Shri Krishan Grit Co. v. Continental Engineering Corporation, 2026 LLBiz HC(DEL) 953 Eco Green Buildtech Pvt. Ltd. v. Vikartan Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., 2026 LLBiz HC(DEL) 951 Flemingo (DFS) Private Limited v. Airports Authority of India, 2026 LLBiz HC(DEL) 938 UGRO Capital Limited v. TruCap...

Bombay High Court Condones 530-Day Delay In Foreign Award Enforcement Amid Limitation Uncertainty
The Bombay High Court has condoned a 530-day delay in seeking enforcement of a foreign arbitral award, holding that the uncertainty over the limitation period applicable to enforcement of foreign awards constituted sufficient cause for the delay.Justice Arif S. Doctor observed that the delay arose from “the lack of clarity in the law at the time regarding the applicable period of limitation for the enforcement of a foreign award” and not from ignorance or misunderstanding of the law. The court...

Arbitrator's Elevation As Judge Did Not Affect Award Passed Before Taking Oath: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has held that the elevation of an arbitrator as a High Court judge did not affect the validity of an arbitral award passed by him. The award was passed hours before he took oath as a judge on the same day.The order was passed by Justice Gaurang Kanth, who rejected Acumen (J) Marketing Private Limited's objection to sole arbitrator Partha Pratim Roy's competence after his elevation as an Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court. The bench noted that the award was...

Pre-Dispute Clause Cannot Replace Post-Dispute Written Waiver Of Arbitrator Ineligibility: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has upheld the setting aside of an arbitral award passed by an arbitrator appointed unilaterally by the Managing Director of the Central Warehousing Corporation. It held that a contractual clause permitting such appointment could not override the post-dispute written waiver requirement under Section 12(5) A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta dismissed an appeal filed by contractor Amal Krishna Dey against the Commercial Court's...

Award Debtor Cannot Sidestep Mandatory 75% Deposit To Challenge MSME Award Through Execution Objections: Telengana HC
The Telangana High Court has held that an award debtor cannot use execution-stage objections to sidestep the mandatory 75% deposit required under the MSMED Act. The ruling came in a dispute between MSME supplier Atlantis Agritech Private Limited and Kendriya Bhandar, after the latter sought to keep asset-disclosure proceedings in abeyance pending its application under Section 47 of the Code of Civil Procedure before the Executing Court. The High Court held that such proceedings cannot be...

MSME Council Location Does Not Determine Court's Jurisdiction In Post-Award Proceedings: Calcutta HIgh Court
The Calcutta High Court has reiterated that the location of an MSME Facilitation Council does not, by itself, determine the territorial jurisdiction of courts over proceedings arising from an arbitral award.Applying this principle, the court held that an exclusive-jurisdiction clause in favour of the New Delhi courts governed a Section 29A application seeking an extension of the arbitral mandate after an award was passed by the West Bengal Micro Small Enterprises Facilitation Council (WBMSEFC),...

Time-Barred Claim Order Is Arbitral Award, Superfluous Termination Remark Cannot Bar Challenge: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has held that an arbitral tribunal's decision rejecting a claim as time-barred is a final arbitral award. It said that a separate observation terminating the proceedings under Section 32(2)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, was unnecessary and could not be used to deny the claimant a challenge to the award. Referring to Section 32(2)(c), the bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra held “The said provision has nothing...

Madras High Court Says Time Extension Doesn't Waive Liquidated Damages If Right Is Reserved
The Madras High Court has refused to interfere with an arbitral award in a dispute over delays in the expansion of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited's First Thermal Power Station by two 210 MW units. It held that NLC had not waived its right to claim liquidated damages by granting extensions of time, as each extension expressly reserved that right.A bench of Justice P. Velmurugan and Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi observed:“Where the promisee permits further performance and extends the...

MSME Registration Cannot Revive Abandoned Arbitration Claims: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has ruled that a supplier cannot revive claims abandoned in an earlier arbitration merely by subsequently obtaining registration under the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that a party that did not challenge the termination of the earlier arbitration cannot use subsequent MSME registration to reopen the same claims.The court held, “Having not availed the same, in the opinion of this Court, a party cannot be...
