Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. v. Gajanan Ramdas Patil
Case brief
What is this about?
Unilateral appointment of arbitrator; arbitral award declared non-est, non-executable and void-ab-initio even at execution stage; Order XXI Rule 22 CPC notice; execution application dismissed; fresh arbitration permitted; limitation period from invocation excluded; Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd v. Gajanan Ramdas Patil; applies Supreme Court decision of 05-01-2026 in Bhadra International (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Airport Authority of India (CA 37-38/2026); relies on Bombay HC decision in L & T Finance Ltd. v. Sangeeta Bhansali (Comm. Ex. Appln. (L) 5277/2022).
What did the court decide?
Arbitral award declared non-est in law, non-executable and void-ab-initio; Execution Application dismissed; Notice and 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.