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...

Delhi High Court Holds NITI Aayog Payments Cannot Alter Award Rules, Directs NHPC To Pay HCC ₹16.39 Cr.

The Delhi High Court on 28 July held that interim payments released under NITI Aayog's relief scheme for construction contractors during the pendency of challenges to arbitral awards cannot alter the legal method of adjusting payments once the award attains finality. Justice Subramonium Prasad directed National Hydro Electric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC) to pay Rs. 16.39 crore to Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. (HCC) after adjusting the amounts already paid under the scheme, holding that such...

Delhi High Court Holds Future O&M Claims Beyond Scope, Partly Quashes Louis Berger-COWI JV Award

The Delhi High Court on Monday, 3 August, held that an arbitral tribunal cannot award operation and maintenance charges for services that had not fallen due on the date of the award. Justice Avneesh Jhingan partly allowed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)'s petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and partly set aside an award granting Rs. 5.16 crore and USD 60,769 with interest to The Louis Berger Group Inc.-COWI A/S joint venture. He held: ...

Can An Arbitrator Appoint An Advocate Commissioner To Collect Evidence? Kerala High Court Says No

The Kerala High Court has ruled that an arbitral tribunal cannot appoint an Advocate Commissioner to collect evidence by invoking its power to grant interim measures under Section 17 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.Justice Easwaran S observed that Section 17 cannot be used to circumvent the limits imposed by Sections 26 and 27 of the Act. "Merely because Section 17 provides power to the arbitrator to grant interim relief, he cannot bypass the prohibition under Section 26 and grant...

State Gets No Special Leeway In Delay Condonation Under Arbitration Act: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court on 30 July held that government bodies are not entitled to any special concession under Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and that the State and private parties are subject to the same standard for proving “sufficient cause.” A Division Bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary dismissed an appeal filed by the railway authorities against the Commercial Court's refusal to condone a 28 day delay in filing objections to an arbitral...

Deposit Made To Stay Arbitral Award Is Security, Not Payment To Award-Holder: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that depositing money in court as a condition for staying an arbitral award does not alter ownership of the amount.It ruled that such a deposit remains only a form of security and creates no unconditional right in favour of the decree holder.A single bench of Justice Avneesh Jhingan observed that the decree holder acquires no vested right over the money merely because it has been deposited in court."There is no vested right created in favour of the decree holder for...

LiveLawBiz Arbitration Cases Weekly Digest: July 26 - August 1, 2026

Nominal IndexGetwell Healthcare Private Limited v. Dr. Santosh Sahi & Ors., 2026 LLBiz HC(DEL) 745Chief Engineer, Employees' State Insurance Corporation v. Enarch Consultants Pvt. Ltd., 2026 LLBiz HC(DEL) 737U.P. State Highways Authority v. M/s Abhijeet Meerut Karnal Toll Road Limited, 2026 LLBiz HC(ALL) 58Triveni Adhesive and Tapes & Ors. v. The New India Assurance Company Limited, 2026 LLBiz HC(ALL) 56Fomento Commodities PTE. Ltd. v. Fedders Electric & Engineering Ltd., 2026 LLBiz...

Certified Copy Without Arbitrators' Signatures Is Not a 'Signed Copy' Under Arbitration Act: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has ruled that a certified copy of an arbitral award carrying only a third-party certification that the original was signed, without reproducing the arbitrators' signatures, does not amount to delivery of a "signed copy" under Section 31(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Without such delivery, the limitation period for challenging the award under Section 34 does not begin, making an execution petition for its enforcement premature.A single bench of Justice...