Madras High Court Says No Cheque Bounce Prosecution If Underlying Arbitral Award Was Challenged

The Madras High Court has recently quashed cheque bounce proceedings against a builder after finding that he had challenged the arbitral award cited as the basis of the alleged liability before the cheque was allegedly issued. Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan said, “Even before the date of issuance of the cheque i.e. 15.07.2019, the accused challenged the very arbitration award before this Court as early as on 11.02.2019 in Arb.OP.Nos.381 and 382 of 2019. Therefore, the accused would not have issued...

Private Arbitration Cannot Override Statutory Labour Adjudication: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has recently held that statutory labour adjudication cannot be displaced by private contractual arbitration where statutory worker rights are involved.A Division Bench of Justice P Velmurugan and Justice K Govindarajan Thilakavadi observed, “While the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 governs voluntary arbitration, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is a specialized social legislation designed to protect workers, and its mandatory procedures cannot be over ridden by...

Punjab & Haryana HC Grants Landowners 2013 Act Interest Over Arbitrator Award In Land Acquisition For Highway

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that denying landowners whose compensation is enhanced in arbitration under the National Highways Act the same interest benefits available to similarly placed landowners would be discriminatory and violative of Article 14. Justice Harkesh Manuja held, “In the present case, the learned Arbitrator, by denying parity to identically placed landowners even though only with regard to the interest component of the compensation, has acted arbitrarily and in...

MSME Pre-Deposit Non-Compliance Not Automatic Bar To Restoring Section 34 Petition: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on 13 May held that non-compliance with the mandatory pre-deposit requirement under Section 19 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 does not, by itself, bar restoration of a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. A Bench comprising Justice Gaurang Kanth allowed a restoration application filed by the Public Health Engineering Department, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and restored its Section 34 petition...

Calcutta High Court Says IDFC First Bank Lost Right To Seek Arbitration After Waiting 11 Months In Loan Suit

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed IDFC First Bank Limited's appeal against a trial court order that refused to send a loan dispute to arbitration and struck off the bank's defence for failing to act within time. A division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi upheld the order, finding that the bank had waited nearly 11 months after entering appearance in the suit before seeking arbitration. “In the case at hand, as noted above, the appellant/defendant came up...

Arbitration Case-Management Orders Are Not Open To Section 34 Challenge: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on 12 May held that procedural and case-management directions passed in arbitral proceedings, including orders refusing amendment of pleadings or additional document production, do not amount to an “interim award” under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 unless they finally determine substantive rights between the parties. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar dismissed a petition filed by Cinda Engineering and Construction Private Limited challenging an...

Calcutta High Court Refuses Arbitral Award Enforcement Over Indirect Unilateral Arbitrator Appointment

The Calcutta High Court has refused to enforce an ex parte arbitral award in favour of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd., holding that a lender cannot indirectly secure the appointment of a sole arbitrator through an arbitral institution of its own choosing when the borrowers have neither consented to the process nor participated in it. Justice Gaurang Kanth held, “The law does not permit such a stratagem. The prohibition engrafted by Section 12(5) and the judicial decisions...

LiveLawBiz Arbitration Cases Weekly Digest: May 11 - May 16, 2026

Nominal IndexHirani Developers v. Nehru Nagar Samruddhi CHS Ltd. and Another Etc., 2026 LLBiz SC 188Ram Avatar Agrawal Road Construction Private Limited Now Known As SPA Paving Projects Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2026 LLBiz SC 187Ucon PT Structural System Private Limited & Anr. vs Utracon Corporation Pte Ltd. & Ors., 2026 LLBiz SC 184M/s National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. v. M/s Tarapore & Co., Engineers & Contractors & connected matter Tarapore & Company v....

Party Cannot Invoke HC's Supervisory Jurisdiction After Withdrawing Arbitral Award Challenge: Punjab & Haryana HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday held that a party that withdraws its challenge to an arbitral award cannot later use the High Court's supervisory jurisdiction to reopen the same dispute through a different route. “The supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 being discretionary and equitable ought not to be exercised in favour of a litigant who has by withdrawing the objections abandoned the statutory remedy and now seeks to circumvent the consequences of that withdrawal." ...

Party Cannot Indirectly Secure Unilateral Arbitrator Appointment By Choosing Arbitration Institution: Calcutta HC

The Calcutta High Court has recently held that a party interested in the outcome of an arbitration dispute cannot indirectly control the appointment of a sole arbitrator by unilaterally approaching an arbitration institution of its own choosing. “The law does not permit such a stratagem. The prohibition engrafted by Section 12(5) and the judicial decisions thereunder is directed not merely at the formal act of appointing an arbitrator, but at the substance of the process, the unilateral control...

Bombay High Court Flags 'Industrial Scale' Bank Recovery Proceedings Through Self-Chosen ODR Platforms

The Bombay High Court recently cautioned that banks conducting recovery proceedings “at an industrial scale” through self-chosen Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platforms risk concentrating multiple disputes before the same arbitrator. The court held that banks cannot sidestep the requirement of independent arbitral appointments by offering borrowers a purported choice from a list of ODR platforms curated by the bank itself. “In any case, for a bank to conduct recovery proceedings at an...

Telangana High Court Dismisses MSME's Plea Against Arbitration Reference After Consent To Tribunal

The Telangana High Court has held that a company cannot challenge an MSME arbitration reference after consenting to the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and participating in the proceedings. “After giving consent to the constitution of the Arbitral Tribunal and thereafter having participated in the proceedings before it, the writ petitioner cannot subsequently challenge the reference of the dispute to arbitration on the ground of the dispute not amenable to arbitration,” the Court...