???????? ?????? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????? ???? ?? ?????????????? 37 ????????????, ???? ?????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????????? ???? ???????????
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (“BPCL”) v. Anant Kumar Singh (Patna High Court, Division Bench, 8.01.2024), was a section 37 Appeal against an Order passed by single judge in a section 34 Petition of #Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (“A&C Act”) upholding an award.
In this case, BPCL had issued an advertisement for appointment of a petrol pump dealer for certail outlets in Jharkhand, & the applicant had to file certain affidavits regarding the proposed site for the outlet.
Subsequently licence was issued in favour of the Respondent by BPCL. Thereafter certain complaints were filed by the other applicants alleging that the affidavit filed by the Respondent contained false statements regarding ownership & leasing of the proposed site. BPCL issued show cause notice to the Respondent & subsequently terminated the Respondent, upon which writ petition was filed. Thereafter matter was referred to arbitration.
The arbitrator held that the infirmities in the affidavit were non-serious in nature, made inadvertently, & that the dealership should be restored to the Respondent. The #arbitrator also held incase the dealership was not restored within 3 months, a particular amount of monthly damages was to be paid to the Respondent. This award was challenged in section 34 where the court upheld the award, & finally the present appeal was made.
The Court observed as below:
1.????The fact was that the petrol pump was being operated by the Respondent on the same proposed site with his workforce, & the land owners whose affidavit was submitted for the application had also supported the case of the Respondent in arbitration proceedings.
2.????The Arbitrator had rendered a well-reasoned & plausible view keeping in view the above facts, & also that the termination of dealership was not carried out as per any terms & conditions of the agreement but on account of a complaint received by BPCL.
3.????Post the 2015 amendment in the A&C Act, mere contravention of substantive law in India, by itself, is no longer a ground available to set aside an arbitral award. In order to interfere with the award, any illegality alleged needs to be patent illegality appearing on the face of the award going to the very root of the matter. (Section 34(2-A), A&C Act, Ssangyong Engineering v. NHAI (2019) 15 SCC 311)
4.????Contravention of a statute not linked to public policy/public interest, cannot be brought in by the backdoor when it comes to setting aside an award on the ground of patent illegality.
5.???The scope to interfere with an award under Section 37 is even more restricted than a Court scrutinising the award under Section 34, particularly so, when the learned court below has upheld the award.
Hence appeal was dismissed & award upheld.
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