Case Law Details
Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate
Damodar Valley Corporation Vs Reliance Infrastructure Limited (Calcutta High Court)
While talking sense and taking the most pragmatic stand, the Calcutta High Court in a most learned judgment titled Damodar Valley Corporation vs Reliance Infrastructure Limited in Neutral Citation: 2023:CHC-OS:5117 in the exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction that was reserved on August 9, 2023 and then finally pronounced on September 29, 2023 has upheld an arbitral award of Rs 1354 crores that was passed in favour of the Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RIL). We must note that the award stemmed from the deal of RIL with Damodar Valley Corporation for constructing a thermal power plant. The Court said unequivocally that the Indian arbitration system required reform due to the increasing judicial interference at every stage of the process. It merits mentioning that the Single Judge Bench comprising of Hon’ble Mr Justice Shekhar B Saraf very rightly underscored that, “Presently, it seems that arbitration system in India itself is finding it hard to bear the weight of the increasing judicial interference at every stage of the process. This not only impacts the viability of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism, but further demotes India’s standing as a business friendly destination in a globalised world.” No denying it.
At the very outset, this robust judgment authored by the Single Judge Bench comprising of Hon’ble Mr Justice Shekhar B Saraf of Calcutta High Court sets the ball in motion by first and foremost putting forth in para 1 that, “The award debtor Damodar Valley Corporation (hereinafter also referred to as the ‘petitioner’) has preferred this application being A.P. 40 of 2020 under Section 34 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) against the arbitral award dated December 21, 2019 passed by the arbitral tribunal comprising of Mr. Ganendra Narayan Ray (Presiding Arbitrator), Mr. Indrajit Chatterjee (Co-Arbitrator), and Mr. Ronojit Kumar Mitra (Co-Arbitrator). The award holder/claimant in the instant application is Reliance Infrastructure Limited (hereinafter also referred to as the ‘respondent’).”
To put things in perspective, the Bench while dwelling on facts of the case envisages in para 2 that, “2.1 I have outlined the facts leading to the instant application below:-
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after getting award of more then 50000 you need to go high court .costof lawyer is 50000.
what is point.