Arbitration Clause In Expired Lease Cannot Be Invoked To Execute Fresh Lease: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has recently held that an arbitration agreement in an expired lease deed cannot be automatically extended to govern disputes relating to the execution of a fresh lease, even if the proposed lease is claimed to arise from prior correspondence between the parties. Justice Aniruddha Roy in an order dated 23 December, 2025, dismissed an application filed by HDFC Bank Ltd under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, seeking reference of the dispute to...

Past Employment With Party Does Not Make Arbitrator Ineligible: J&K&L High Court Reaffirms

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Monday reiterated that an arbitrator does not become ineligible merely because he was employed by one of the parties in the past. The court held that past government service, by itself, does not indicate bias under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act unless it is shown that the arbitrator has a continuing business relationship or had advised a party in connection with the dispute. Justice Sanjay Dhar delivered the ruling on December 22, 2025,...

Bombay High Court Rejects Mumbai Metro's Arbitration Request Application, Rules Settlement Agreement Supersedes Original Contract

The Bombay High Court recently rejected the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited's (MMOPL) request to have its dispute with Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) resolved by way of arbitration. The Court deciding that the arbitration clause in the original contract no longer applies to new issues emerging from the settlement, ruled that once a "full and final" settlement agreement is executed, it supersedes the original contract. Justice Abhay Ahuja, on 18th December, 2025 stating that “the...

Res Judicata Not Attracted Where Issue Was Not Framed In Earlier Proceedings: Bombay High Court Partially Modifies Arbitral Award

The Bombay High Court has held that res judicata does not apply where the issue in earlier proceedings was neither framed nor directly adjudicated and that the court exercising jurisdiction under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Arbitration Act) can modify an award by reducing the rate of interest where bad part of an award is severable from the good one. Justice Sandeep V. Marne observed: “Mere reasons recorded in a previous round of litigation for deciding...

Non-Obstante Clause U/S 13(2) Commercial Courts Act Prevails Over S.10 Delhi HC Act: Delhi High Court Dismisses Arbitral Appeals

The Delhi High Court Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela while dismissing an appeal under Section 10, Delhi High Court Act (“DHC Act”) and Section 13(2), Commercial Courts Act (“CC Act”) observed that the expression “any other law for the time being in force” used in Section 13(2), CC Act encompasses in its fold the provisions of Section 10 of the DHC Act as well. Thus, Section 13(2), CC Act overrides Section 10, DHC Act in relation to appeals in...

Fresh Arbitration Notice is Mandatory For Second Round Of Arbitration After Earlier Award Is Set Aside: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that a fresh arbitration notice under section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Arbitration Act) is mandatory for initiating a second round of arbitral proceedings after an earlier arbitral award has been set aside even when the award was declared as a nullity due to invalid appointment of the arbitrator. Justice S. Manu while dismissing the Arbitration petitions held that once an arbitral award is issued, the arbitration proceedings stand...

Bombay High Court Quashes ₹173.72 Cr Arbitral Award Against Thermax, Holds Arbitrator's Findings To Be Based On Lack Of Evidence

The Bombay High Court has recently set aside an arbitral award that mandated engineering giant Thermax Limited to pay ₹173 crore in favor of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (RCF). The award primarily directed payments towards the additional costs RCF incurred for power due to failure of gas turbine generators. Considering a challenge under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the Bench comprising of Justice R.I Chagla, determined that the findings of the arbitral...

Municipal Corporations Not Entitled To Unconditional Stay U/S 36 A&C Act; Treated At Par With Private Parties: P&H High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry has observed that being a statutory body does not entitle a party to claim unconditional grant of stay under Section 36, Arbitration and Conciliation Act (“ACA”) as a matter of right. And if a conditional stay is granted, a statutory body is to be treated at par with a private party. Facts Th Appellants i.e. Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar and Moga (“Municipal Corporations”) filed the...

Mozambique Coal Mine Dispute: Delhi High Court Refuses To Stay $10.53 Million Bank Guarantee Encashment

The Delhi High Court recently dismissed a petition filed by Black Gold Resources Private Limitada to prevent the termination of its coal mining contract in Mozambique as well as the invocation of a $10.5 million Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) by International Coal Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and Minas De Benga Limitada. While withdrawing an earlier interim stay, Justice Jasmeet Singh on December 17, 2025, noted that the petitioner had not proven "irretrievable harm" and that the issues at hand were...

MBBS Seat Row: Delhi High Court Quashes Executing Court's Order Compelling Jamia Hamdard University To Grant Consent Of Affiliation

The Delhi High Court on 17th December set aside an order dated 8th December 2025, of the Executing Court which directed Jamia Hamdard Deemed to be University to issue a Consent of Affiliation (CoA) for 150 MBBS seats at the Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (HIMSR). The Court ruled that the executing court had acted beyond its jurisdiction by deciding matters outside the scope of the arbitral order and the statutory framework. A Division Bench comprising of Justices Anil...

Claimant Can Pursue Alternate Remedy For Severed Part Of Award Without Limitation Bar: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that time spent in earlier arbitral proceedings can be excluded while computing limitation, even if only part of an arbitral award is set aside and fresh proceedings arise from a different agreement. A single bench of Justice Sandeep V Marne, in an order dated December 17, 2025, said Section 43(4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act allows exclusion of such time as long as the dispute formed part of the earlier arbitration. “When claimant in such a case...

Delhi High Court Upholds Stay On ICC Arbitration In Oman-India Border Security Dispute, Dismisses MSA Global's Appeal

The Delhi High Court has upheld an anti-arbitration injunction issued by a single judge to discontinue an ICC arbitration between Engineering Projects India Ltd (EPIL) and MSA Global LLC (Oman). The Division Bench comprising of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anil Kshetarpal and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar on 12th December, 2025 has affirmed that New Delhi was the arbitral seat and not Singapore and declared that the arbitration had become "oppressive and vexatious" particularly in view...