Indian Supreme Court upheld four awards made by a sole arbitrator in London under the LCIA Rules

In a pro-arbitration judgment handed down on 13 February 2020, which has been extensively welcomed and commented on by the Indian arbitration community and elsewhere, the Indian Supreme Court upheld four awards made by a sole arbitrator in London under the LCIA Rules, obtained by members of 39 Essex Chambers.

The judgment, given by Supreme Court justices RF Nariman, Aniruddha Bose and V Ramasubramanian, emphasised the narrow grounds on which a foreign award may be set aside under s.48(1)(b) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

The successful party, which had been Claimant in the arbitration, was awarded substantial costs by the Supreme Court - a notable event in itself. It was represented by leading Indian firm Bharucha & Partners. They instructed 39 Essex Chambers counsel David Brynmor Thomas QC, Jess Connors and Samar Abbas Kazmi in the underlying arbitration proceedings, leading to all four awards enforced by the Supreme Court. The Respondents (in the arbitration) has instructed English and Indian Leading Counsel in the arbitration, including, notably, Harish Salve SA.

A link to the article can be found here.