Published on: January 19, 2024 at 22:42 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Arcelormittal Nippon Steel V. Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd. (2022)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that a Civil Court has competent jurisdiction to admit, entertain and decide an Interim Relief Application under Section 9(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 any time before the final arbitral award is enforced in accordance with Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. However, it is held that if the Arbitral Tribunal has been set up then Civil Court must concede to the powers of Arbitral Tribunal under Section 17 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which is an equally efficacious remedy with similar powers.
62. Sub-section (3) of Section 9 has two limbs. The first limb prohibits an application under sub-section (1) from being entertained once an Arbitral Tribunal has been constituted. The second limb carves out an exception to that prohibition, if the Court finds that circumstances exist, which may not render the remedy provided under Section 17 efficacious.
63. To discourage the filing of applications for interim measures in courts under Section 9(1) of the Arbitration Act, Section 17 has also been amended to clothe the Arbitral Tribunal with the same powers to grant interim measures, as the Court under Section 9(1). The 2015 Amendment also introduces a deeming fiction, whereby an order passed by the Arbitral Tribunal under Section 17 is deemed to be an order of court for all purposes and is enforceable as an order of court.
64. With the law as it stands today, the Arbitral Tribunal has the same power to grant interim relief as the Court and the remedy under Section 17 is as efficacious as the remedy under Section 9(1). There is, therefore, no reason why the Court should continue to take up applications for interim relief, once the Arbitral Tribunal is constituted and is in seisin of the dispute between the parties, unless there is some impediment in approaching the Arbitral Tribunal, or the interim relief sought cannot expeditiously be obtained from the Arbitral Tribunal.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra