In Brief
Sundaram Finance Limited sought to execute an arbitral award against a loan defaulter in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, but the trial court rejected the application, holding that execution must first be filed before the court having jurisdiction over the arbitration. The Supreme Court held that an arbitral award can be executed in any court of competent jurisdiction where the judgment debtor has assets, without requiring first to file in or obtain a transfer from the court that had jurisdiction over the arbitration. The fiction of treating an award as a decree applies only to the enforcement mechanism, not to establishing that the court where arbitration occurred is the "court that passed the decree." The Court approved the Delhi, Kerala, Madras, Rajasthan, Allahabad, Punjab & Haryana, and Karnataka High Courts' views and rejected the contrary positions of Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh High Courts.
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