No Signature, Yet Bound by Arbitration: SC Allows Collaborator to Invoke Arbitration Clause

Elecon Engineering Company Limited Vs Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited & Anr. (Supreme Court of India) In an important ruling on Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the Supreme Court held that a non-signatory collaborator can invoke an arbitration clause where the collaborator is an “inextricable and veritable party” to the underlying contract. The dispute arose from a coal handling plant contract where the contractor could qualify for the bid only because of the technical collaboration and experience of the appellant collaborator. The tender itself mandated execution of a Deed...