In its landmark decision in Balco, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that Part I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Indian Arbitration Act) will have no application to international commercial arbitration held outside India. The Court held that “regulation of conduct of arbitration and challenge to an award would have to be done by the courts of the country in which the arbitration is being conducted”; and that such court is then the supervisory court possessed of the power to annul the award. The court thus affirmed the “Shashoua principle”, which is now firmly established in arbitration jurisprudence in India. This principle lays down that an agreement as to the seat of arbitration brings in the law of the seat as the curial law and is analogous to the exclusive jurisdiction clause. The parties thus agree not only to the curial law of the seat but also that any challenge to an interim or final award will be made only in the court of the place designated as the seat of arbitration.
To read the full article by Amar Gupta, please refer to the below ICC India Arbitration White Paper.
Amar is amongst the founding members of JSA’s Disputes Practice. He has in past served as the Practice Chair and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.