To Enforce or Not to Enforce: Laying A Standard of Enforcement of Annulled Awards in India

Abstract

Is it proper for Indian courts to refuse enforcement of annulled awards simpliciter and give effect to a foreign judgment annulling the award? This remains unanswered, and this piece attempts to address this by laying down a suitable standard for India. It first examines the different positions taken internationally, like the internationalist, territorial, and conflict-of-laws approaches. It concludes that the best approach for India to develop its standard of enforcement of annulled awards would be the conflict-of-laws approach (after rejecting internationalist and territorialist views). In arriving at this position, this piece journeys through Section 48(1)(e) of the 1996 Act and some fundamental principles of arbitration.