In Brief
The State of Haryana challenged the High Court's decision upholding an arbitration tribunal constitution. The ICA had rejected the State's nominated arbitrator (a retired engineer-in-chief employed 10 years earlier) on grounds of bias and unilaterally appointed a replacement without allowing the State time to nominate another. The Supreme Court held that former employment does not disqualify an arbitrator absent current justifiable doubts about impartiality. The appointment violated Section 15(2) of the Arbitration Act, which requires substitute arbitrators be appointed by the same procedure as the original. The impugned judgment was set aside and the parties agreed to appoint a sole arbitrator instead.
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