In Brief
Pile Engineering India sued for recovery under an arbitral award of ₹12,09,000 passed in 2004. The High Court initially upheld the award, but on remand from the Supreme Court, it held that Clause 23 of the parties' 1999 contract was not a valid arbitration clause. The Supreme Court reversed this, finding that Clause 23—which provided for disputes to be referred to the Managing Director whose decision would be final and binding—was a valid arbitration clause despite not using the word "arbitration." Following precedent in Mallikarjun v. Gulbarga University, the Court upheld the arbitral award and allowed the appeal.
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