Hdb Financial Services Limited v. Govind Dada Motling
Case brief
What is this about?
Unilateral appointment of sole arbitrator; void ab initio; ineligibility raisable at any stage and even in execution; Bhadra International (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Airports Authority of India, 2026 SCC Online SC 7 relied upon; Commercial Execution Applications dismissed; arbitral awards set aside; connected Interim Applications and Chamber Summons disposed; fresh arbitration permitted; limitation exclusion from invocation till order; proviso to Section 12(5) Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 waiver; Prothonotary & Senior Master finding; Bombay High Court OOCJ; Abhay Ahuja, J.; 30 March 2026.
What did the court decide?
No enforcement relief to the applicants: the applications stand dismissed and the respective arbitral awards stand set aside; the Commercial Execution Applications, connected Interim Applications and Chamber Summons, if any, stand disposed. Parties are free to initiate fresh arbitration in accordance with law, with the period from invocation of arbitration till the date of the order excluded for limitation, and with liberty to apply where an express written waiver under the proviso to Section 12(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 exists.