[Shyamal Anand is a Principal Associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co and Divyansh Morolia a IV year student, National Law Institute University, Bhopal] As commentators have observed, arbitration is essentially a private process, having party autonomy and consent at its core. The arbitration tribunal derives its jurisdiction from the agreement of the parties. However, under some limited...
Determining the Date of Conversion for Foreign Award Denominated in Foreign Currency
[Ankur Mishra is an advocate practising in the Delhi High Court] In cases of enforcement of awards denominated in foreign currency, what should be the date of conversion of currency for the purpose of enforcement? Should it be the date of breach or should it be the date when decree is made against the judgment debtor? In case of foreign award, should the date of conversion be the date when the...
Levelling the Playing Field: Supreme Court Decides on Unilateral Appointment of Arbitrators
[Niti Dixit and Abhishek Tewari are Partners and Zahra Aziz an Associate at S&R Associates, Advocates] On November 8, 2024, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India considered the issue of unilateral appointment of arbitrators and selection of arbitrators from a panel of arbitrators curated by Indian public sector undertakings (“PSUs”), and delivered its judgment in Central...
Perkins to YSL: Analysing the Lack of Equality in India-Seated Multi-Party Arbitration
The landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India in Perkins Eastman Architects DPC & v. HSCC (India) Ltd. has often been praised for putting an end to the rampant practice of unilateral appointments of arbitrators and upholding the principles of impartiality and neutrality in arbitral proceedings (see here and here). The decision was also one of the first instances in Indian arbitration...
Supreme Court Clarifies the Scope of Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
[Kuberinder Bajaj is a Judicial Law Clerk at the Delhi High Court] The Supreme Court, in its recent judgment in SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Krish Spinning, has comprehensively explained the scope and standard of judicial scrutiny while adjudicating an application under section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“the Act”). The Court retraced the existing jurisprudence on the...
Timeline of filing Application under Section 29A for Extension of Time
[Megha Shaw is an advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India and Sachdev Sharma is a law graduate of NUJS, Kolkata] In Rohan Builders (India) Private Limited v. Berger Paints India Limited (12 September 2024), a division bench of the Supreme Court of India decided on whether an application for extension of time under section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the “A & C...
Can an Exclusive Jurisdiction Clause Designate Seat?
[Shaneen Parikh is the Partner and Head of International Arbitration at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Amoga Krishnan is a Senior Associate at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas] Can an exclusive jurisdiction clause be treated as one which also determines the seat of arbitration? In May 2024, the Delhi High Court (“DHC”) in Kings Chariot v. Tarun Wadhwa ruled in the negative. This post is a comment on the...
Clarifying “Unconditional” Withdrawals: When Does Interest on Awarded Amounts Truly Stop?
[Ashish Dholakia is a Senior Advocate at the Delhi High Court, Rohan Chawla is an Advocate at the Delhi High Court, and Ria Bansal is a 4th-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law] The 2015 amendments to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘A&C Act’) dramatically changed the arbitration regime in India. A challenge to an award under section...
Flawed Foundations: Challenging the Right of Ineligible Arbitrators to Nominate
[Abhishek Gupta is a fourth year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at National Law University, Delhi] In arbitration, the interplay between party autonomy and procedural fairness often presents complex legal challenges. A key issue arises when considering whether an ineligible arbitrator should have the authority to nominate an arbitrator. This question places party autonomy, a fundamental principle of...
Assignment and Arbitration Agreements: Assignee’s “Burden” to Arbitrate
[Chiranth Mukunda is a 2nd Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Student at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] In DLF Limited v. PNB Housing Finance Ltd (22 March 2024), while considering a petition under section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 ( A&C Act), the Delhi High Court observed that an assignee would be bound by the arbitration agreement in a claim brought by the...
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