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Associate in the Dispute Resolution Team at the Mumbai office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Sameer has about 4 years’ experience in dispute resolution and general corporate. He focusses on litigation and arbitration arising out of contractual / corporate disputes. He can be reached at sameer.bindra@cyrilshroff.com

Arbitrator’s power to recall its order of termination of arbitral proceeding- A tale of Dubiety - Part II

In Part I of this post, we inter-alia attempted to highlight the law (and perhaps a relevant counter perspective) in relation to the power of the arbitrator to recall its order of termination of arbitral proceedings passed under Section 25(a) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”). In this post, we attempt to answer whether such a remedy would extend to termination of arbitral proceedings under Section 32(2)(c) of the Act, and other issues incidental thereto.
Continue Reading Arbitrator’s power to recall its order of termination of arbitral proceeding- A tale of Dubiety? (Part II)

Introduction:

This article analyses the legal basis and the genesis of the power of an arbitrator to recall its order of termination of proceeding on account of default of the Claimant.

India seated arbitral proceedings, whether ad-hoc or institutional, are governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, 1985 (UNCITRAL Model Law). Whilst arbitrators are not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) or the Indian Evidence Act, 1872[1], they is usually guided by the broad principles enshrined in the said enactments, while conducting the arbitral proceedings. In this regard, it is pertinent to note that under Order IX Rule 13 of CPC, the Court has power to recall its order. Under the said rule, if the Court is satisfied that summons was not duly served on the defendant, or that there was sufficient cause for defendant’s failure to appear when the suit was called on for hearing, the Court is empowered inter-alia to pass an order setting aside an ex- parte decree that may have been passed against the defendant.Continue Reading Arbitrator’s power to recall its order of termination of arbitral proceeding- A tale of Dubiety? (Part I)

Extent of applicability of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to proceedings under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986

OVERVIEW

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (read with the rules and regulations framed thereunder) (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) was enacted with the objective of providing better protecting the interests of consumers. Towards this end, the Act provides for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for settlement of consumer disputes and for matters connected therewith. The Act is a composite and complete code in itself, providing for exhaustive substantive and procedural provisions in relation to the redressal of consumer disputes. For speedy redressal of consumer disputes, the Act provides for setting up of quasi-judicial machinery at the District, State and Central Level (“Dispute Redressal Authorities”). These quasi-judicial authorities are creatures of the statute and have wide powers under the Act, to inter alia grant reliefs of a specific nature and to award, wherever appropriate, compensation to consumers.
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FRUSTRATION (OF CONTRACT) IN THE TIME OF SARS-CoV-2

Overview

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease a pandemic. On the same day, the Government of India imposed visa and other travel restrictions. Soon thereafter, many states in India declared a ‘lockdown’, an emergency measure [under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (“Disaster Management Act”)] to prevent and contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and also issued prohibitory order(s) under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. A stricter lockdown was then imposed by the Central Government, which will presently remain in effect till May 3, 2020. During the lockdown, whilst certain commercial activities have been classified as essential and are permitted to continue operations, subject to following preventive measures (including social distancing), several others remain stalled and suspended.
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