CPC Applies To Court Proceedings Arising From Arbitration Unless Excluded: Patna High Court

The Patna High Court on 6 August held that while the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) does not bind arbitral tribunals, it applies to court proceedings arising from an arbitral award unless expressly excluded. A Division Bench comprising Justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Ramesh Chand Malviya set aside a Commercial Court order dismissing the Bihar State Warehousing Corporation's challenge to a Rs. 5.99 crore arbitral award after it cured a Rs. 245 court fee deficit 62 days beyond the...

Officers Representing Union Of India Cannot Independently Challenge Award: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court on 10 August held that officers or representatives appearing for the Union of India in arbitral proceedings cannot independently challenge an arbitral award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, merely because they represented the Union during the proceedings. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal dismissed an appeal filed by officers of the South East Central Railway, holding that where an...

Employee Named Arbitrator Pre-2015 Ineligible If Arbitration Had Not Yet Commenced: Tripura High Court

On 10 August, the Tripura High Court held that an employee or officer named as an arbitrator in an agreement executed before 23 October 2015 becomes ineligible to act as arbitrator if arbitration had not commenced before the 2015 amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao allowed Kashinath Bhattacharjee's arbitration petition in a dispute under a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) tender agreement and rejected BSNL's attempt to appoint its...

Madras High Court Reduces Vedanta's Pre-Arbitration Interest From 14% To 9% In Masyc Projects Dispute

The Madras High Court on 31 July partly allowed Vedanta Limited's appeal arising from its dispute over the design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of a conveyor system for a copper concentrate warehouse at Tuticorin, while substantially upholding the arbitral award in favour of Masyc Projects Pvt. Ltd.A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi held that interest awarded for the pre-arbitration and pendente lite periods must be commensurate with the...

Arbitrator Cannot Disregard Agreement To Treat WhatsApp Exchanges As Concluded Contract: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that an arbitrator cannot disregard the terms of the contract under which a dispute was referred to arbitration and treat WhatsApp exchanges as a separate concluded agreement when that was never the pleaded case.Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh partly set aside an arbitral award in a family partnership dispute involving a husband, his wife, and other family members. The court quashed the direction to pay 9% annual interest on a ₹5 crore loan, which the arbitrator had...

Company Cannot Deny Employee Equity By Relying On Its Own Failure To Frame ESOP Scheme: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that a company cannot rely on its own failure to frame an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) to deny an employee equity that was offered as part of his remuneration package.Justice N.J. Jamadar made the observation while dismissing Waterfield Advisors Private Limited's petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The company had challenged an arbitral award directing it to allot 31,878 equity shares to its former Director...

Mere Filing Of Company Petition In NCLT Does Not Bar Interim Relief Under Arbitration Act: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that the mere filing of a company petition before the National Company Law Tribunal does not bar a shareholder from seeking interim relief under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. This applies where the relief sought concerns rights arising from a Shareholders' Agreement containing an arbitration clause.Justice Amit Borkar, while partly allowing a petition filed by a 33% shareholder and Director of Farma Hub Overseas Pvt Ltd, rejected the objection...

Two Arbitration Places Can Both Be Seats If Parties Do Not Choose One: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on 16 July held that where an arbitration agreement specifies two alternative places as the “place of arbitration” and the parties do not subsequently choose one, both places can operate as juridical seats of arbitration. Justice Vivek Jain accordingly referred the dispute between Idieal Multi Media Network Private Limited and newspaper publisher CMYK Printech Limited to arbitration and appointed former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul as the sole...

Bombay High Court Allows $200,733 Claim Against Victore Ships, Says Voluntary Absence Won't Bar Enforcement

The Bombay High Court on 5 August held that a party cannot claim it was unable to present its case when it voluntarily chose not to participate in arbitration, and allowed enforcement of a USD 200,733.01 foreign arbitral award, along with interest and costs, in favour of Osterreichischer Llyod Seereederei against Victore Ships Private Limited. A Bench of Justice Arif S. Doctor held: “Section 48(1)(b) is intended to protect a party who, for reasons beyond its control, was genuinely unable to...

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...

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...