Legal Reference Library

The Supreme Court, in IMAX Corporation vs. M/S E-CITY Entertainment, has held that Part-I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, has no application in a case where parties chose and agreed to the arbitration being conducted outside India and the arbitration was in fact held outside India. A bench comprising Justice SA Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan was considering an appeal against the Bombay High Court order wherein it had held that petition to set aside an arbitral award in an arbitral proceedings held in London is maintainable before a court in India. The Court observed that, in the instant case, the parties expressly agreed that the arbitration will be conducted according to the ICC Rules of Arbitration and left the place of arbitration to be chosen by the ICC. “The relationship between the seat of arbitration and the law governing arbitration is an integral one. The seat of arbitration is defined as the juridical eat of arbitration designated by the parties, or by th...

In Raffles Design International India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Educomp Professional Education Ltd., the hon'ble Delhi High Court held that under Section 27 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, a person guilty of not following the interim orders of the arbitral proceedings held outside India cannot be proceeded for the contempt under Section 27 of the Act.

Recently a very interesting matter M/s.Addhar Mercantile Private Limited Vs Shree Jagdamba Agrico Exports Pvt.Ltd came up before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court where it was asked of the court whether in a situation where both parties are from India but had mutually decided to have the seat of arbitration in Singapore or India under English Law, can an Indian court adjudicate on the dispute ? After hearing both parties, the Hon'ble Judge opined that as both parties are Indian having been registered in India, the said arbitration cannot be treated as an International Commercial Arbitration as per Section 28(1) of the Arbitration act and therefore Indian law has to be applied.