In Brief
Chennai Metro Rail Limited sought to terminate a three-member arbitral tribunal's mandate, contending that the arbitrators' unilateral increase of hearing fees—from ₹1,00,000 to ₹2,00,000 per session, despite Chennai Metro's objection—created a reasonable apprehension of bias and made them de jure ineligible. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's dismissal, holding that while fee increases require tripartite agreement, such breach does not constitute automatic de jure ineligibility under the Arbitration Act's enumerated grounds. Only circumstances listed in the Seventh Schedule (19 disqualifying relationships) constitute absolute ineligibility. Other claims of bias must first be raised before the tribunal itself under Section 13, not directly to the court under Section 14. The Court dismissed the application, directing arbitrators to resume proceedings.
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