Recourse Against Ex -Parte Arbitral Award

U/Sec.34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act ----An arbitral award may be set aside by the Court only if the party furnishes proof that:-----

(a) a party was under some incapacity or

(b) 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

(c) 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

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

(e) the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties, unless such agreement was in conflict with a provision of this part from which the parties cannot derogate or failing such agreement, was not in accordance with this part; or

(f) a court finds that the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the law for the time being in force, or

(g) the court finds that the arbitral award is in conflict with the public policy of India.

Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996.

Proper Notice- First of all, the party can claim for recourse of the award if the proper notice was not served for the appointment of the arbitrator. But, no where in the Act of 1996, describes the term proper notice, hence it has to be construed from the judial pronouncement. As, the SC said in Dulal Poddar v. Executive Engineer¹ for an improper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator, their should be an complete unawareness of the appointment to the other party & the principle of natural justice, i.e. the opportunity to hear the other side is not given. Hence the proper notice is required to be given to the other party.

Inability of party to present his case- Secondly, the other party must be given an appropriate opportunity to present his case, for this the three condition are required to be fulfilled, respectively, they are (i) the party appointing the arbitrator should give notice of the arbitral proceedings. (ii) the notice of time & place must be given (iii) opportunity must be given to each party to present his case.

1. (2004) 1 SCC 73