Summary
The respondent waived objections to a common arbitration of four agreements and to proceedings in Delhi despite one agreement specifying Kolkata. It did not participate or raise those objections before the arbitrator, although notified and afforded opportunities. In this domestic institutional arbitration the appointment mechanisms were not materially different and the applicable substantive and curial law were the same. The High Court erred in restoring the challenge before the Alipore court merely because the claimant was amenable to that court’s jurisdiction.
Issues
- Whether objections to a common reference and contractual venue had been waived.
- Whether separate-agreement precedent required a different conclusion in this domestic institutional arbitration.
- Whether the High Court correctly restored the Section 34 proceedings at Alipore.
Provisions considered
- Sections 4, 16 and 20, Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996Applied waiver for failure to raise the venue and scope objections before the tribunal within the statutory framework. (¶¶ 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
Held
- A party could raise before the arbitrator that separate agreements required separate consideration or that proceedings under the agreement specifying Kolkata should be held there. The respondent’s failure to participate and raise jurisdiction or excess-of-authority objections in the circumstances amounted to waiver of those objections. (¶¶ 16, 19, 20, 23)
- Duro Felguera concerned separate arbitration mechanisms in an international commercial arbitration at the appointment stage. Here the arbitration was domestic and institutional, with a common appointment framework; the difference concerned the venue specified in one agreement, while substantive and curial law remained the same. (¶¶ 21, 22)
- The respondent was precluded from subsequently objecting to venue. The Alipore court’s dismissal called for no interference, and the claimant’s amenability to its jurisdiction as shown in the cause title was not decisive of jurisdiction over the award challenge. (¶¶ 24, 25)
Result
Appeal allowed; High Court judgment set aside and Alipore court’s order dated 13 August 2018 dismissing the Section 34 proceeding restored, without costs.