Yashpal Chopra And Co. Vs Union of India & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The appeal before the Orissa High Court arose from a dispute regarding maintainability of proceedings challenging an arbitral award under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The appellants sought interference with the judgment dated 9 May 2012 by which the Court below had held that their challenge to the arbitral award was not maintainable.
The appellants submitted that an arbitrator had been appointed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. They had challenged the arbitrator’s appointment before the arbitral tribunal under Section 16, but the objection was unsuccessful. Thereafter, the appellants participated in the arbitration proceedings, following which an arbitral award dated 17 February 2010 was passed.
Read HC Judgment in this case: Rejection of Section 34 Petition on Maintainability Grounds Amounts to Refusal to Set Aside Award: Orissa HC
Aggrieved by the award, the appellants filed a challenge petition under Section 34 before the District Judge. However, the District Judge dismissed the petition as not maintainable on the ground that the arbitrator had been appointed through a judicial order of the High Court under Section 11(6), and therefore, Section 42 required the challenge to be filed before the same Court where the Section 11 application had been entertained.
