In Brief
The Supreme Court referred to an arbitrator a dispute between the State of Jharkhand and Hindustan Construction Co., with the award to be filed before the Court. When the arbitrator passed an award, a question arose: can the Supreme Court entertain an application to make the award a rule of the Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, 1996, or must parties file objections before a civil court? The Court noted conflicting precedents and referred the matter to a larger bench to clarify whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to make the award a rule despite retaining control over the arbitration proceedings.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.