The Supreme Court in its recent judgement paved way for the enforcement of a foreign arbitral award passed in 2001 against Hindustan Copper.
On June 2, the Centro Trade saga finally came to an end after the arbitral award , when the Supreme Court rendered its final and third judgment in favour of the foreign investor, Centro Trade Minerals and Metals Inc. The Award dated September 29, 2001 passed in London was enforceable against Hindustan Copper, declared the Supreme Court.
The three rounds of litigation in the Centrotrade line of cases, led to three significant judgments by the Supreme Court of India.
Also Read – ARBITRATION AWARD
The judgment in Centrotrade Minerals and Metals Inc. v. Hindustan Copper Limited decided on May 9, 2006 (reported in (2006) 11 SCC 245) ended in a split decision between Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Tarun Chatterjee which regarded the permissibility of a multi-tier arbitration procedure in the first round.
A three-judge bench comprising of Justice Madan Lokur, DY Chandrachud and Agrawal upheld the legality of atwo tier arbitration mechanism in way of arbitral award and in the second round of proceeding which was decided on December 15, 2016 (reported in (2017) 2 SCC 228)
An ultimate judgment in the Centro Trade saga was reserved in the third round, vide order dated March 5 2020 by a three-judge bench comprising Justices RohintonNariman, S Ravindra Bhat, and V Ramasubramanian and delivered on June 2.
InabilitybyHindustan Copper to present its cases under Article V(1)(b) of the New York Convention and consequently whether the ex parte award could at all be enforced in India was questioned in the third round of proceeding.
It was factually found that Hindustan Copper had been given adequate opportunity to present its case by its counsel Fox and Mandal. Thereafter, the Court considered authorities from all over the world and held that the arbitral award would be enforceable in India.
M/s Karanjawala and Co. team including Ruby Singh Ahuja, Vishal Gehrana, Shravan Sahny, and Ashutosh P. Shukla instructed Senior Advocates Gourab Banerji and SiddharthBhatnagar who in representing Centrotrade.
Advocate Nandini Sen Mukherjeeinstructed Senior Advocate HarinRaval, who led the Hindustan Copper.
Read the judgement here:
