Delhi High Court: In a petition challenging the order passed by the arbitrator rejecting an application under Section 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘the A&C Act’), Subramonium Prasad, J.*, opined that a perusal of the impugned order showed that the arbitrator had yet not fully closed the issue and had decided to adjudicate on the issue after evidence was led on the same issue. Further, the Court opined that since the award passed by the arbitrator was not so perverse to shock the conscience of this Court, it was not inclined to interfere with the impugned order and dismissed the present writ petition.
In the present case, petitioner challenged the order dated 01-02-2024, passed by the arbitrator rejecting an application under Section 16 of the A&C Act on the ground that the dispute was not arbitrable because the contract entered between the parties was void ab initio.
The Court opined that a perusal of the impugned order showed that the arbitrator had yet not fully closed the issue and decided to adjudicate on the issue after evidence was led on the same issue. The Court opined that the scope of interference while exercising jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution under the A&C Act was well settled. The Court relied on Estralla Rubber v. Dass Estate (P) Ltd. (2001) 8 SCC 97, SBP & Company v. Patel Engineering Ltd. (2005) 8 SCC 618, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. v. Kewal Singh Dhillon (2008) 10 SCC 128, Deep Industries Ltd. v. ONGC (2020) 15 SCC 706, and opined that in view of the fact that the award passed by the arbitrator was not so perverse so as to shock the conscience of this Court, it was not inclined to interfere with the impugned order and dismissed the present writ petition.
[Oriel Financial Solutions (P) Ltd. v. Bestech Advisors (P) Ltd., 2024 SCC OnLine Del 2221, decided on 20-03-2024]
*Judgment authored by- Justice Subramonium Prasad
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Kamal Sehgal, Satinder Singh Gulati and Charanjit Lal, Advocates;
For the Respondent: Raghavendra Mohan Bajaj and Shagun Agarwal, Advocates.
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