Enforcement Of Arbitration Awards In India (Part 1)

Extract

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Enforcement Of Arbitration Awards In India (Part 1)

A jurisdiction's credibility as an arbitration friendly

one rests primarily on the efficiency and efficacy of its award

enforcement regime.

This article examines the award enforcement regime in

India.

A: The "Old" Law:

Prior to January 1996, the law of enforcement of arbitration

awards in India was spread between three enactments.

Enforcement of domestic awards was dealt with under a 1940

Act1. Enforcement of foreign awards was divided

between two statutes a 1937 2Act to give effect to

Geneva Convention 3awards and a 1961 Act4

to give effect to the New York Convention5 awards.

As the Geneva Convention became virtually otiose (by reason of

Article VII of the New York Convention) enforcement of foreign

awards, for all practical purposes, was under the 1961 Act and

for domestic awards was under the 1940 Act. The enforcement

regime between these two statutes was however quite distinct.

The 1961 Act confined challenge to an arbitral award only on

the limited grounds permitted under the New York Convention.

The scope of challenge to domestic awards under the 1940 Act

was much wider. This Act permitted judicial scrutiny inter

alia on the ground that the arbitrator had

"misconducted" himself or the proceedings6

- an expression which came to be widely interpreted and awards

were interfered with inter alia on the ground of

...

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