"I realise that some of my criticisms may be mistaken; but to refuse to criticize judgements for fear of being mistaken is to abandon criticism altogether... If any of my criticisms are found to be correct, the cause is served; and if any are found to be incorrect the very process of finding out my mistakes must lead to the discovery of the right reasons, or better reasons than I have been able to give, and the cause is served just as well."

-Mr. HM Seervai, Preface to the 1st ed., Constitutional Law of India.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Fortnightly Roundup of (Indian) Arbitration Judgements (January 1- January 15, 2011)

In this blog, for a long time we have been doing fortnightly roundup of arbitration related articles published in the Social Science Research Network. From the year 2011, we have decided to post a fortnightly roundup of Indian cases on arbitration. The cases listed below are those which have been decided in the first fortnight of this year.

State of UP v. Combined Chemicals Company Private Limited (Supreme Court, 04.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Formation of Contract, Existence of Arbitration Agreement, Acceptance of Tender, Appointment of Arbitrator by Court without Hearing Objections of the Objecting Party, Award suffers from Patent Illegality,

Delhi State Civil Supply Corporation v. Bhagwati Transport Corp. (Delhi High Court, 06.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Limitation, Time Limit for Filing Petition for Setting Aside Arbitral Award, Section 42 Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, “Court” as per the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996

Ramesh Chander Arora vs Kashmir Saree Kendra (Delhi High Court, 06.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Appeal against Order rejecting Challenge of Arbitral Award, Award Contrary to Public Policy, Validity of the Arbitration Agreement, Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Association.

M.Sons Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. v. Shri Suresh Jagasia & Anr. (Delhi High Court, 07.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Challenging Arbitral Award, Power of Arbitrator to Act as Mediator, Consent Award, Deficiency in Stamping as a Ground for Setting Aside an Award, Enforcement of an Insufficiently Stamped Award, Suit for Declaration of Invalidity of Arbitration Agreement, Scope of the Power of a Court to Allow Amendment of Petition filed under Section 34

JMC Projects (India) Ltd v. Mechtech Engineers (Gujarat High Court, 10.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Deposit of a Percentage of Award Pending Challenge and its Consequences, Arbitration under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006.

Saipem Triune Engineering v. Indian Oil Petronas Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi High Court, 10.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Existence of Arbitration Agreement, Arbitrator's power to Rule on the Validity of Arbitration Agreement

Girnar Traders vs State Of Maharashtra (Supreme Court of India, 11.01.2011)
Key Aspect: Arbitration under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act,1966

Penn Racquet Sports vs Mayor International Ltd (Delhi High Court, 14.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Enforcement of Foreign Awards, Challenge of Foreign Arbitral Awards under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Scope of Enquiry of a Court hearing an Application for Enforcement of Award, Scope of Setting Aside an Award due to Patent Illegality, Narrow Construction to be Accorded to Public Policy in Section 48 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Counter-claim and Advance Costs under the ICC Rules of Arbitration.

Simplex Infrastructures Ltd. v. NHAI (Delhi High Court, 14.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Power of Court to Order Payment of Money Disputed between Parties, Power of the Court to Order Interim Measures under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

R.L. Kalathia & Co. v. State Of Gujarat (Supreme Court of India, 14.01.2011)
Key Aspects: Implications of No-Dues/ No-Claims Certificate on the Survival of the Arbitration Clause.

B.S.Krishna Murthy v.B.S.Nagaraj (Supreme Court of India, 14.01.2011)
[Case Reported in newspapers: See, here, here, and here for news reports on the case]
Key Aspects: Family Dispute Resolution through Arbitration and Mediation.

On the sidelines, we request readers to check out the judgement of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. PC Ramakrishnayya. In this judgement, the Supreme Court has noted a very peculiar aspect in the judgement of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad and of the Andhra High Court: The Tribunal had quoted a couple of sentences from the judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of National High School, Madras v. Educational Tribunal. Curiously the said sentences were actually not to be found in the judgement of the Supreme Court in the National High School case. Curiously, even the High Court 'cited' with approval the sentences 'quoted' by the Tribunal. A shocked Supreme Court held:
"10. As stated above, in National High School, Madras there is no passage as attributed to it in the judgment and order passed by the Tribunal and the High Court. Now, had this mistake occurred only in the judgment of the Tribunal, one could have ignored it as an error of citation. But its repetition in the order of the High Court points to only one thing, that the quoted passage was lifted from somewhere without a proper verification from an approved law report. We express our regret at such cavalier attitude in making judicial pronouncements."
In fact, the 'somewhere' is actually from Rule 20 of the A.P. Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991.

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