In Brief
Northern Coalfield Ltd. filed a suit against Heavy Engineering Corp. Ltd. to challenge an arbitral award made under a government administrative procedure (Permanent Machinery of Arbitration). The High Court rejected the suit for lack of Committee on Disputes (COD) clearance. The Supreme Court held that the COD requirement no longer applies because the COD mechanism was recalled by the Constitution Bench in Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. v. Union of India (2011). The suit could be filed to save limitation even without prior COD permission. The Court allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's rejection, and directed referral of all disputes to a sole arbitrator for adjudication under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
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