• Challenging arbitration decision

I worked in a Coaching Institute (FIITJEE) and left it before completing my contract period of 3yrs (intimating 4 months before quitting) due to deteriorating health conditions (all medical certificates available). One year later, Company asked  Rs 4.5 Lakh  as compensation. I explained them my whole case in writing that due to medical condition I had no option but resign and I informed my Centre Head well before leaving. Moreover, I am unemployed since then and I have no money to compensate you.
Without listening to this they invoked Arbitration Clause and appointed sole arbitrator. I attended the case presented all my documents and medical certificates. As predicted by many, Learned arbitrator decided in favor of coaching institute although reducing compensation amount to 3 Lakh.

Now I have to challenge this biased decision. The jurisdiction of case is in Delhi and arbitrator was also in Delhi. Please help in following queries.


Q.1 Where can I challenge this decision of Arbitrator? (High Court or Session Court)

Q.2 Suppose I want to fight case myself as I don’t have money to pay hefty fees of lawyers and I want to get some experience firsthand. Moreover, I have not done something wrong or fraud that I need some high profile lawyer. All I need is to present all document and appeal in front of Hon judge.

Q3. Since the motive of company from very beginning was harassment through legal mafia, can I file counter case against them in home state (Himachal) so that they also feel the pinch for covert extortion and harassment?

PS – Please give pointwise replies to above queries.  All though I have deep respect for members here but I feel some members give generic advise if not wrong.
Asked 8 years ago in Labour

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23 Answers

To answer your question -

1. You can challenge this order under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

2. Your jurisdiction will most probably lie with the Delhi High Court as pee the commercial matter rule book of the Delhi High Court. However to confirm the same one has to read the order passed by the Arbitrator.

3. Its Ok that you do not wish to hire a high profile lawyer for your case but considering the technicality of the case it is required to have an advocate for your case. Reason - your are coming in an appeal where matters are decided on the laws and precedent laid down in past and the documents available related to the case takes a back seat and are used only for reference. So if you are thinking that if you will present the paper and the judgment will come in your favour then that's an absolute wrong presumption.

4. There are several advocates available in the market who are equally competent and talented to contest your case in a reasonable fee so you should reach out to them.

5. You can any day file 'N' number of cases against any person but that will not render you justice. You should focus on your file which is coming in appeal rather than thinking of creating a line of cases against each other.

Pulkit Prakash
Advocate, Delhi
309 Answers
7 Consultations

1)you have to file petition in HC to set aside award passed arbitrator

2) sessions court is for criminal cases

3) you are at liberty to appear in person . engaging lawyer is not necessary

4) you can file counter case against company in HP

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99775 Answers
8145 Consultations

1. You shall have to challenge the Arbitrator's decision before the High Court.

2. You can fight the case yourself if you so wish but you shall have to know the procedure for filing appeals before High Court. It may not be a bad idea to hire a Junior Advocate to assist you in filing the said Appeal. There are several instances found regularly before the Calcutta High court where the Appellants/Respondents are arguing there cases themselves.

3. On what ground you wish to file a case against FITJEE? You shall have to keep in mind that if the Court rejects/dismisses your petition/suit finding it frivolous, the said organisation can lodge a police complaint or file a criminal case against you u/s211 of IPC for lodging/filing false complaint/cases against then for causing damage to them.

4. So, take careful steps while dealing with legal matters before the Courts of law.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27703 Answers
726 Consultations

The arbitral award can be challenged under section 34 of the Act.

Section 34 provides that an arbitral award may be set aside by a court on certain grounds specified therein. These grounds are:

Incapacity of a party

Arbitration agreement not being valid

Party not given proper notice of arbitral proceedings

Nature of dispute not falling within the terms of submission to arbitration

Arbitral procedure not being in accordance with the agreement

Section 34(2)(b) mentions two more grounds which are left with the Court itself to decide whether to set aside the arbitral award:

Dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitral process

The award is in conflict with the public policy of India

If the decision on matters submitted to arbitration can be separated from those not submitted; only that part of the arbitral award which contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be set aside.

Limitation for the same is 3 months.

the same will be filed in the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction,

Refer to the following link for the detailed analysis of the subject:

https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/arbitral-award-setting-aside/

Please contact a lawyer with the copy of the judgment for a concrete advise.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18103 Answers
377 Consultations

1. You will have to assail the arbitral award before the Delhi Court.

2. You are free to appear in-person and it is not necessary for you to engage the services of a lawyer, however appearing in-person is not advisable.

3. You are free to file counter-case(s) at HP.

Vibhanshu Srivastava
Advocate, Lucknow
9763 Answers
323 Consultations

Hello sir , the appeal against arbitration order can be field in high court , delhi..you will be requiring a assistance of a lawyer to file the petiton .. what type of case are you planning to file

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4632 Answers
67 Consultations

1. In local session court you can appeal arbitration award.

2.Yes ! you have to submit all documents.

3.have you explained in front of arbitration process regarding harassment issue with you.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
13008 Answers
267 Consultations

1. It is the district court in which you need to appeal.

2. Advocate's fees are hefty considering the nature of the dispute and extensive reading, assimilation and dissemination. You can present your case based on the order and make sure you read lot of judgments, Artbitration and conciliation act which would help you to challenge. Beware, it is time consuming and you will loose your energy. Lawyers are meant for the job. You should have engaged a lawyer at the arbitration stage itself, wherein he would have challenged the jurisdiction and identified other loopholes so that you would have escaped.

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3. Impossible, As it is corporate and they have filed an arbitration, you need to legally challenge instead of filing criminal cases which will be waste of time and all.

Rajaganapathy Ganesan
Advocate, Chennai
2300 Answers
8 Consultations

As per The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 , Arbitral awards includes final and interim awards passed by the arbitrator can be challenged under S. 34.

The Supreme Court of India confirmed the powers of the courts to entertain S.34 applications while dealing with the case (2006) 11 SCC 181.

As per Section 34, an arbitral awards may be set aside by the Court only if the party making the application by furnishing the proof for the same.

The district courts have power to entertain the same and till the final decision of section 34 , the awards cannot be enforced .

The subject amount of dispute is 3 lakh , so the jurisdiction will be district court.Even as the award has already been ordered by the Arbitrator , then now the Institute will proceed for execution to recover the said amount from you in the court and you will get summons to represent yourself from the court.

However, it is advisable to challenge the said Arbitration Award by filing application under section 34 of the Act.

Once.you have lost your case before the Arbitrator , so it suggested to hire a suitable lawyer on your behalf and further no need to engage a High profile one as the case is not high profiled and liable to justified in your favour.

Your case is justified on the ground that you have left the job in the Institute on the medical/health ground for which you have medical proof.

Good luck and no need of worry.Sure you will win the game as you have good ground to win the case.

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
15814 Answers
242 Consultations

1. Do note that award can be challenged only within 120 days from the date of service of award. It can be challenged in the court having principle original civil jurisdiction which can be district judge or the high court.

2. One can fight his own case in allcourts of all including the Supreme Court. So there is no compulsion to engage an advocate.

3.For seeking legal recourse it can not be said they are using legal mafia. So prefer an appeal under section 34 of A & C Act, 1996.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23653 Answers
537 Consultations

1. The appeal against the arbitrator may be preferred in the high court

2. You can select a lawyer from this forum too or can choose a lawyer from the local also to guide you to enable you to appear as party in person before court.

3. What reply do you expect for this question?

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
89977 Answers
2492 Consultations

Both sessions and HC has jurisdiction. You have to see which one is applicable as per your jurisdiction. Yes you can fight your case yourself. Yes you can file counter case and show merits to the Court and prove the same for compensation.

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
34514 Answers
249 Consultations

Supreme Court holds that when a Section 34 petition is simultaneously filed in a District court and a High Court the High Court having ordinary original civil side jurisdiction will have primacy to hear the petition.

The Supreme Court (“SC”) in its recent judgment of Executive Engineer, Road Development Division No.III, Panvel & Anr. v Atlanta Limited1 has analysed the definition of “Court” to determine which court would hear challenges to an arbitral award (or arbitral agreement, or arbitral proceeding) where jurisdiction lies with more than one court and the parties initiate proceedings in multiple courts simultaneously.

Section 2(1)(e) of the Act which defines the term “Court” as:

“’Court’ means the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in a district, and includes the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject-matter of the arbitration if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit, but does not include any civil Court of a grade inferior to such principal Civil Court, or any Court of Small Causes”

Conclusion of Bombay high court in a case on this:

interpreting Section 2 (1) (e) the subject-matter of the arbitration has to be treated as if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit. Therefore, one could argue that Section 2 (1) (e) mandates that a petition be treated just as a suit for the purposes of interpreting the meaning of court. From such a reading as well, one could argue that a district court would be the first court of recourse and would aptly exercise jurisdiction.

34 Application for setting aside arbitral award. —

(1) Recourse to a Court against an arbitral award may be made only by an application for setting aside such award in accordance with sub-section (2) and sub-section (3).

(2) An arbitral award may be set aside by the Court only if—

(a) the party making the application furnishes proof that—

(i) a party was under some incapacity, or

(ii) the arbitration agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law for the time being in force; or

(iii) the party making the application was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his case; or

(iv) the arbitral award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration:

An application for setting aside may not be made after three months have elapsed from the date on which the party making that application had received the arbitral award or, if a request had been made under section 33, from the date on which that request had been disposed of by the arbitral tribunal: Provided that if the Court is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from making the application within the said period of three months it may entertain the application within a further period of thirty days, but not thereafter.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
89977 Answers
2492 Consultations

1)you can file application for setting aside arbitral award before the HC if it has been passed in violation of principles of natural justice

2)application for setting aside award has to be made within period of 90 days . court has power to condone the delay of further 30 days if sufficient cause has been shown for the delay

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99775 Answers
8145 Consultations

1. The award passed by the arbitrator is amenable to challenge before the High Court under Section 34 of the Act.

2. Unless the order is perused I cannot say what the ground(s) of challenge can be.

3. You are free to appear in person in the High Court if you have the competence to conduct the case.

4. To file a counter case there has to be a cause of action. Nothing stops you from filing any case. Any Tom. Dick or Harry can file 100 cases a day but each case has to be decided on the face of its own merits. If your cases are dismissed as frivolous then the adversary may sue you for damages apart from launching your criminal prosecution for the offence of defamation.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30840 Answers
981 Consultations

1. In National Highway Authority Of ... vs The Union Of India & Ors on 30 July, 2015, pecuniary jurisdiction of the District Judge to hear an appeal arising out of a judgment and decree passed by the Civil Court is up to Rs. 10 lacs and if the valuation of the property in dispute is more than Rs. 10 lacs the appeal lies to the High Court. Therefore, you have to file an appeal in district court.

2. It is settled that an arbitral award can be set aside on any of the grounds mentioned in sub Section (2) of Section 34 of the Act. The order passed under Section 34 of the Act if it sets aside an arbitral award has to record a specific finding that any one of the conditions mentioned in Section 34(2) of the Act are found proved or are made out. In the absence of such a specific finding the order under Section 34 of the Act cannot be passed to set aside an arbitral award.

3. Ignorance of law cannot be pleaded and any other grounds has to be stated to condone the delay. As you have appeared in person, you are bound to be familiar with the law and the current legal position.

Rajaganapathy Ganesan
Advocate, Chennai
2300 Answers
8 Consultations

1. It will be ADJ

2. Yes these will be some grounds on which your award will be challenged.

3. Have been advised telephonically.

Thanks

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18103 Answers
377 Consultations

1. Adverse arbitration order in Company matter is ordinarily challenged before the High Court.

2. You have a ground that you could not comply with the terms of the Contract for reasons beyond your control being on medical ground.

3. You should of course be careful in drafting and filing your appeal and prepare your defense to win a court case.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27703 Answers
726 Consultations

It will be challenged for the following reason: the arbitral award is in conflict of the public policy of India.

It is not the case as you are thinking, we can challenge this apparent biasness of the arbitrator before the court.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18103 Answers
377 Consultations

you can challenge arbitrator decision on the grounds that award is against public policy

2) that learned arbitrator failed to apply his mind and passed an award which is unreasonable

3) your remedy is to file an application for setting aside award at the earliest and explains reasons for delay in filing application

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99775 Answers
8145 Consultations

Please take note of following -

1. An appeal always lies before the High Court only as it is the High Court which is an appellate court while the lower court is the court of original jurisdiction. Had there would have been no such clause of Arbitration then your case should have started from lower court and then would have come before High Court. Now that you have the arbitration clause with yourself so your case will start from Arbitrator and will come before the High Court in appeal.

2. You can challenge the order on the ground of violation of principle of natural justice.

3. You have to file an application for the waiver of delay made in bringing this application if it has crossed the limitation period else not.

Pulkit Prakash
Advocate, Delhi
309 Answers
7 Consultations

India has been an arbitration friendly country right from the beginning, because arbitration was in practice in this country even before the codified law came into force.

Even though the interference of the Courts is reduced to a minimal level by the new 1996 Act, losing parties are filing applications under S.34 and trying their level best to enhance the scope of S. 34 and make the courts to treat the challenge proceedings like a regular first appeal. Since in majority of the places in India, the powers to entertain the challenge under S.34 of the Act lies with the District courts, initially the loosing parties are able to delay the enforcement of arbitral awards for a longer time.

Even though some High courts also, earlier admitted all such applications under S. 34 and treated the challenge proceedings like a regular appeal.

Now many judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India have realised the importance of protecting the arbitration by exercising their powers to interfere sparingly. The settled law of India mostly recognises the finality of arbitral awards and restricts the scope of the challenge.

As per the 1996 Act, arbitral award includes final and interim awards passed by the arbitrator. Both interim as well as final awards can be challenged under S. 34.

The Supreme Court of India confirmed the powers of the courts to entertain S.34 applications while dealing with the case (2006) 11 SCC 181 McDermott International Inc Vs. Burn Standards Co. Ltd.,

The Only recourse against any arbitral awards as per the act is by filing an application for setting aside arbitral awards under S. 34.

various courts of India have consistently held that the work of interpretation of contracts, falls within the domain of the arbitrator and hence the supervising court cannot interfere into that interpretation.

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Moreover it was also held that S.34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act does not contemplate 'misinterpretation of contract' as one of the grounds for challenging an arbitral awards.

Bombay High Court in Indian Oil Corporation Vs. Artson Engineering Ltd., (2007), Mah LJ 825 held that the claims which were not notified to quality arbitration cannot be included in the claim later since they were included in the notice seeking arbitration. Hence the arbitral award granting those claims was set aside on the ground that the award dealt with claims not arbitrate

Hence the arbitration tribunal should not give an award in matters which are not arbitrable. If any awards issued by a tribunal which has granted relief in matters which are exempted expressly by the parties from the arbitration clause and issues which are not arbitrable then the courts may set aside the award while exercising their jurisdiction under section 34 of the Arbitration and conciliation Act, 1996.

For example the Supreme Court of India held that an arbitrator would have no power or Jurisdiction to order winding up of a Company Haryana telecom Ltd., Vs Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., AIR 1999 SC 2354.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
89977 Answers
2492 Consultations

1. Your ground t could fall under a,b,f & g to challenge the Arbitrator's decision.

2. Challenge the said decision and also bring to the notice of the Court the biased steps taken by the Arbitrator.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27703 Answers
726 Consultations

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