Hdb Financial Services Ltd. v. Sushil Kashinath Kandalgaonkar
Case brief
What is this about?
Unilateral appointment of sole arbitrator; arbitral award declared non-est, non-executable and void-ab-initio at the execution stage; execution application dismissed; fresh arbitration permitted with limitation exclusion from invocation till the date of the order; reliance on Supreme Court decision dated 5 January 2026 in Bhadra International (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Airport Authority of India (Civil Appeal No. 37-38 of 2026) and the Bombay High Court view in L & T Finance Ltd. v. Sangeeta Bhansali & Anr. (Commercial Execution Application (L) No. 5277 of 2022); HDB Financial Services Ltd. v. Sushil Kashinath Kandalgaonkar; Bombay High Court OOCJ; Rajesh S. Patil, J.; 10 March 2026.
What did the court decide?
Execution Application dismissed; arbitral award declared non-est in law, non-executable and void-ab-initio; interim applications, if any, disposed of; parties permitted to initiate fresh arbitration, with the period from invocation of arbitration till the date of the order excluded for limitation.