No Second Bite at the Cherry – Supreme Court on Finality of Section 11 Orders and Waiver in Hindustan Construction Company Ltd v. Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd

In their latest article, “𝗡𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 – 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟭 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗟𝘁𝗱 𝘃. 𝗕𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝘆𝗮 𝗣𝘂𝗹 𝗡𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗺 𝗟𝘁𝗱” published in Lexology, our Partner Ashishchandra Rao and Advocate Aditi Rai analyse the Supreme Court’s decision in 𝘏𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘓𝘵𝘥 𝘷. 𝘉𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘳 𝘙𝘢𝘫𝘺𝘢 𝘗𝘶𝘭 𝘕𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘮 𝘓𝘵𝘥 which settles whether High Courts can revisit and nullify their own orders under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 after an arbitrator has been appointed and the arbitral process has substantially progressed.

The article discusses how the Court reaffirmed the finality of Section 11 appointment orders, limited judicial interference at the referral stage and rejected belated challenges to arbitration agreements raised after years of participation in the proceedings.

While the judgment highlights the importance of impartial tribunal, it also notes the importance of disallowing belated and tactical challenges after full participation.

Read the article here