In Brief
LMJ International Ltd. (later renamed Sri Munisuvrata Agri International Limited) sought to challenge foreign arbitral awards made in London under GAFTA arbitration rules concerning sales of non-basmati parboiled rice. After the High Court rejected its maintainability objections to the execution petitions, and the Supreme Court dismissed earlier special leave petitions challenging that decision, the company raised fresh grounds regarding enforceability. The Supreme Court dismissed these petitions, holding that maintenance and enforceability issues must be considered simultaneously at the threshold under Section 48 of the Arbitration Act, and cannot be split across successive proceedings. The court imposed exemplary costs and ordered execution of the awards, noting the petitioner's suspicious conduct in changing its name and initiating insolvency proceedings immediately after losing interim orders.
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