High Court of Judicature at Bombay (Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction) — Sandeep V. Marne, J. — COMM. ARBITRATION PETITION NO. 390 OF 2024 (pronounced 17 March 2026) — Section 34, Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996; setting-aside of arbitral award refused. ICICI Securities Ltd. (Trading Member/stockbroker) challenged the majority Award dated 21 June 2024 of a three-member Arbitral Tribunal under NSE's online dispute resolution mechanism (Erdac/CADRE), whereby investor Respondent No.1's (Ridhi Siddhi Investment) Statement of Defence was treated as a counterclaim and Rs.23,30,000/- awarded with 6% p.a. simple interest (post-award 10%), for losses caused when shares bought under Margin Trading Facility were auctioned because the broker erroneously uploaded the partner's PAN instead of the firm's, defeating the mandatory pledge. Held, dismissing the petition: (i) a Conciliator has no power to award any sum; the Rs.75,00,000/- recorded as 'Admissible Claim Value/directions by conciliator' in the Failure Report dated 20 March 2024 was merely the fee-slab ascertainment contemplated by para-20 of SEBI's ODR Master Circular dated 31 July 2023, binding neither party nor the arbitrator — both sides, however, misread it as an award, explaining why the investor filed neither claim nor counterclaim; (ii) in that peculiar setting, with the broker's liability admitted and a genuine lis on whether the loss was actual or notional, the majority Award rightly preferred the contents of the defence over its form, and its merits adjudication cannot be faulted; (iii) the unpleaded ground of non-filing of a counterclaim could not be argued orally, though a Section 34 court may itself notice perversity/patent illegality (relying on State of Chhattisgarh v. Sal Udyog Pvt. Ltd., 2022 (2) SCC 275); (iv) where loss is established but exact quantification is difficult, the Tribunal may resort to guesswork or a rough-and-ready formula (relying on M/s. Construction & Design Services v. DDA; BCCI v. Kochi Cricket; New India Assurance v. Shirdi Industries), and the majority Award's conservative measure — the difference between the IOCL purchase price (28 November 2023) and the share value on 5 December 2023, the day the broker corrected the error — is not so irrational as to warrant interference; (v) the Court expressly declined to lay down any general proposition endorsing claims for notional losses in securities arbitrations. Petition dismissed; no costs; P.R. Bond/undertaking discharged.
