Published on: December 13, 2023 at 15:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Cox & Kings Ltd. v. SAP India (P) Ltd. (2023)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism which provides a neutral, efficient, and expert process for dispute resolution at a single forum whose decision is final and binding on the parties. An arbitration proceeding is broadly divided into two stages : The first stage commences with an arbitration agreement and ends with the making of an arbitral award. The second stage pertains to the enforcement of the arbitral award. An arbitration agreement records the consent of the parties to submit their disputes to arbitration and has four essential elements of an arbitration agreement:
- There must be a present or a future difference in connection with some contemplated affair
- The parties must intend to settle such difference by a private tribunal
- The parties must agree in writing to be bound by the decision of such tribunal.
- The parties must be ad idem.
65. An arbitration agreement is a contractual undertaking by two or more parties to resolve their disputes by the process of arbitration, even if the disputes themselves are not based on contractual obligations. An arbitration agreement is a conclusive proof that the parties have consented to submit their dispute to an arbitral tribunal to the exclusion of domestic courts. The basis for an arbitration agreement is generally traced to the contractual freedom of parties to codify their intention to consensually submit their disputes to an alternative dispute resolution process.
Drafted by Abhijit Mishra