Bharat Aluminium Company Vs. Kaiser Aluminium Technical Services INC
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Head Note
Arbitral Award - Arbitration proceedings
Interpretation of Statute/ Documents - In the matter of interpretation, the court has to make different approaches depending upon the instrument falling for interpretation - Legislative drafting is made by experts and is subjected to scrutiny at different stages before it takes final shape of an Act, Rule or Regulation - There is another category of drafting by lawmen or document writers who are professionally qualified and experienced in the field like drafting deeds, treaties, settlements in court, etc. -Third category of documents made by laymen who have no knowledge of law or expertise in the field. The legal quality or perfection of the document is comparatively low in the third category, high in second and higher in first - In the process of interpretation in the first category, the courts do make an attempt to gather the purpose of the legislation, its context and text - In the second category also, the text as well as the purpose is certainly important, and in the third category of documents like wills, it is simply intention alone of the executor that is relevant.
Arbitral Award - Arbitration Clause
Arbitration - Contract - Party autonomy being the brooding and guiding spirit in arbitration, the parties are free to agree on application of three different laws governing their entire contract - (1) proper law of contract, (2) proper law of arbitration agreement and (3) proper law of the conduct of arbitration, which is popularly and in legal parlance known as curial law.
The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 - Section 34
Foreign Award -Objections Against Article 22 of the Arbitration Agreement leaves no room for any doubt that the proper law of contract is Indian law -Article 17.1 clearly stipulates that the disputes or claims arising out of or relating to the agreements, if not amicably settled by negotiation, will be settled by the arbitration pursuant to the English Arbitration Law - Parties have agreed in expressed terms that the law of arbitration would be English Arbitration Law - Being a contract executed between the two parties, the court cannot adopt an approach for interpreting a statute - Part I of the Indian Arbitration Act stands impliedly excluded - Held that no error in the view taken by the High Court that the applications filed by the appellant under Section 34 of the Indian Act are not maintainable against the two foreign awards dated 10.11.2023 and 2.11.2023 between the appellant and the respondent.
Topic(s)-Arbitration - Foreign Award - Challenge not maintainable