In a case involving enforcement of a foreign award under Sections 48 and 49 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Arbitration Act’), the Court in Cairn India Limited v. Union of India [1], held that Article 136 of the Limitation Act, 1963 which provides for a limitation period of 12 years for executing a decree would also apply to a petition seeking to enforce a foreign award.
In Meera Goyal v. Priti Saraf [2], the Court held that when an arbitral tribunal had while deciding an application challenging jurisdiction under Section 16 of the Arbitration Act, deferred a final decision on the concerned application to a subsequent stage in the proceedings, the said determination could not be read as a rejection of the objections articulated in the application and the order could not be said to be an interim award within the meaning of Section 31(6) of the Arbitration Act inasmuch as no issue stood conclusively determined thereby.
In Power Mech Projects Limited v. SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation [3], the Court observed that in appropriate circumstances, it could direct the deposit of the entire sum awarded under the arbitral award before considering a challenge petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act or before staying the enforcement of the award.
In Parmeet Singh Chatwal v. Ashwani Sahani [4], while hearing a challenge to an arbitral award wherein the arbitration clause in question was printed in tiny font at the bottom of a receipt, the Court set aside the arbitral award while noting that the mere signature on such a receipt would only indicate the acceptance of goods as against consent for referring disputes to arbitration. The Court further observed that a vague arbitration clause purportedly providing for institutional arbitration without any specifics about the constitution of the arbitral tribunal or the status of the entity which would purportedly supervise the arbitration, could not be sought to be unilaterally acted upon by a party.
In Union of India v. M/s B. S. Aggarwal [5], the Court reiterated that the period of limitation for filing an appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act against an order allowing or rejecting a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act was 120 days, and any delay beyond the said period could not be condoned.
In Neha Aviation Management Private Limited v. Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited [6], the Court reiterated that upon a clarificatory judgment as regards the ineligibility of a particular class of persons to act as arbitrators being pronounced, Section 14 of the Arbitration Act would come into play automatically and result in a de-jure termination of the mandate of similarly placed arbitrators.
In MBL Infrastructures Limited v. Rites Limited [7], the Court held that the amended Section 29A(5) which was introduced by way of the Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 (‘2019 Amendment Act’) could not be said to have retrospective operation, in the background of the fact that the Court on an earlier occasion had already been approached by the parties by means of an application under the un-amended Section 29A. It is relevant to note that a Coordinate Bench of the Court in an unreported decision in Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Pvt. Ltd. v. Jindal India Thermal Power Limited [8], in a case where there had been no previous application for extension of time under the un-amended Section 29A, held that the amended Section 29A(5), being procedural law, would have retrospective operation and apply to pending arbitrations as well.
In Ames Impex Electricals Private Limited through its Director v. New Delhi Municipal Council [9], the Court held that when the final operative relief awarded by the arbitral tribunal is manifestly contrary to its earlier findings in the arbitral award, then the award could be said to be an unreasoned one and would be liable to be interfered with in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act.
In Ircon International Limited v. C. R. Sons Builders and Development Private Limited [10], the Court reiterated that in a case involving attribution of responsibility of delay, an arbitral tribunal is entitled to rely on the fact that extensions of time were granted by the counter-party without imposition of liquidated damages. The Court further reiterated that apportionment of responsibility between the parties is a purely factual exercise which is well within the jurisdiction of an arbitrator.
In Arvind Kumar Jain v. Union of India [11], the Court held that the endeavour of one of the parties to an agreement in seeking to pressurise and compel the other to furnish a waiver from the applicability of Section 12(5) of the Arbitration Act would be a pernicious and unacceptable practice.
In ICCG India Private Limited v. Plant Lipids Private Limited [12], the Court held that a clause which proscribed a particular genre of claims pertaining to non-payment of fees under an agreement to be non-arbitrable could not defeat the right to reference to arbitration of a claim which was for an amount not towards simpliciter fees but towards cost and other miscellaneous charges.
In BVSR-KVR (Joint Ventures) v. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited [13], the Court held that even in a case where the unamended provisions of the Arbitration Act alone where applicable, this would not preclude the Court from taking judicial notice of a judgment rendered under the provisions of the Amended Act, which had invalidated the arbitrator-appointment mechanism in an identical clause which was the subject matter of controversy before the Court.
In Sudha Gupta v. A. K. Gupta [14], the Court proceeded to set aside an arbitral award to the extent that it had awarded a claim to the director of a company in his personal capacity whereas the claim was made by the company itself.
In Godwin Construction Private Limited v. Tulip Contractors [15] the Court reiterated that with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (‘MSMED Act’) being a beneficial legislation, a supplier that was already in existence at the time of the commencement of the MSMED Act and which had not obtained registration within the period prescribed but had done so after entering into a contract with the buyer, was entitled to seek recourse to the provision of statutory arbitration as contained in the MSMED Act.
In Sporty Solutionz Private Limited v. Badminton Association of India [16], the Court observed that a person who had accepted the amount payable under an arbitral award without any reservation whatsoever would be estopped from challenging the said award in the future. The Court further observed that once the validity of an alleged forged document had been conclusively pronounced upon by the arbitral tribunal after due consideration of the opposing evidence led before it, such a factual finding could not be sought to be assailed in the limited scope of jurisdiction under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act.
In India Waste Energy Development v. Government of NCT of Delhi [17], the Court observed that once a finding has been arrived at that a challenge to an arbitral award was barred by limitation on account of it having been filed beyond the period stipulated under Section 34(3) of the Arbitration Act then there should not have been a further deliberation on the merits of the case in the usual course.
In Union of India v. M/s Prominent Builders [18], the Court upheld the finding of the arbitral tribunal that the imposition of a minor sum of liquidated damages by a party upon a counter- party as opposed to the full limit permissible under the contract, coupled with acceptance of the work and issuance of completion certificate would defeat any counter-claim for loss of reputation and poor workmanship on the part of the department.
In Leaseplan India Private Limited v. Topsgrup Services [19]. the Court observed that issuance of notice by a Court when presented with a petition challenging an award under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act is not automatic in nature, and the Court is required to consider whether any of the statutory grounds of challenge are made out and as to whether the petition has been filed within limitation or not.
In SSIPL Lifestyle Private Limited v. Vama Apparels (India) Private Limited [20], the Court held that if an application under Section 8 of the Arbitration Act was filed with undue delay i.e. the same was not filed till the date by which the Statement of Defence could have been filed in terms of the applicable law, then such application would be liable to be rejected and the suit would be proceeded with.
In SPML Infra Limited v. Graphite India Limited [21], the Court held that cogent reasons have to be provided for condoning the period of delay under Section 34 (3) of the Arbitration Act and simplistic and stereotypical averments that the authorised representative of the petitioner was pre-occupied with other legal issues or that detailed deliberations had to be entered into before filing the petition would be of no avail.
In Steel Stripes Wheels Limited v. Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited [22], the Court reiterated the vital parameters which were required to be complied with before a valid filing within the meaning of Section 34 (3) of the Arbitration Act could be said to have been achieved.
In Huawei Telecommunications (India) Company Private Limited v. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) [23], the Court refused to refer a non-signatory party to a composite arbitration between two others viz. a contractor and a sub-contractor, inasmuch as it found that even though the agreement between the contractor and the sub-contractor in the said case had an arbitration clause, the employer/ non-signatory party was not a party thereto, and neither did the agreement between the contractor and the sub-contractor make a detailed reference to the terms of the agreement between the employer and the contractor.
In Samsung India Electronics Private Limited v. Vishal Video and Appliance Private Limited [24], the Court held that when there was no express prohibition in an agreement, the reasoned decision of the arbitral tribunal towards awarding commission on a pro-rata basis of the actual sales target actually achieved, though the stipulated benchmark was not achieved, was a pure finding of fact based on evidence and could not be interfered with in exercise of limited jurisdiction under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act.
In Union of India v. Annavaram Concrete Private Limited [25], the Court held that even where the reasoning of the arbitral tribunal is found to be somewhat sketchy, if the said reasoning is sufficient for the Court to discern the basis upon which the arbitral tribunal arrived at its ultimate conclusion, then the same could not be interfered with in exercise of limited jurisdiction under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act.
In Morgan Securities & Credits Private Limited v. Videocon Industries Limited [26], the Court held that when an arbitral award was silent on the specific amount upon which future interest would be payable, then by dint of the statutory fiction under Section 31(7) of the Arbitration Act the future interest would be payable on the entire sum awarded i.e., the principal amount plus the past and pendente-lite interest awarded till the date of the arbitral award.
In National Building Construction Corporation Limited. v. JR Construction [27], the Court held that when no objection had been taken before the arbitral tribunal that any of the claims were ‘excepted matters’, the same could not be taken for the very first time in a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act. The Court further observed that inasmuch as the regime of costs of arbitration proceedings had found statutory recognition under Section 31A of the Arbitration Act, costs could be awarded to the successful party even in the absence of an explicit claim having been raised in this regard in the statement of claims filed before the arbitral tribunal.
In Reliance Industries Limited v. GAIL (India) Limited [28], while reiterating that waiver requires an intentional relinquishment of a known right, the Court held that the finding by an arbitral tribunal rejecting a plea of waiver and estoppel is purely factual in nature and could not be sought to be assailed in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, unless the same was demonstrably perverse.
https://www.barandbench.com/columns/the-delhi-high-court-in-review-february-2020-part-i
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