Supreme Court strikes down Section 87 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 inserted by the 2019 Amendment Act, and omission of Section 26 of the 2015 Amendment Act.

Brief facts

Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. (“Petitioner”) through the public tendering system, undertook building projects as a contractor for government bodies such as NHAI, NHPC, NTPC and IRCON International Ltd. In the petition, the Petitioner has claimed to have arbitral awards (“Awards”) amounting to INR 6,070 crores in its favour. However, the said Awards have been challenged by the respondents under Sections 34 and 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”), which affects their enforcement and the Petitioner is unable to recover the awarded amounts. The Petitioner therefore sought formulation of a process that would amount to immediate payment the moment an arbitral award is passed in its favour. The Petitioner also sought to challenge various provisions of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) and sought quashing of proceedings under the IBC initiated by its creditors before various National Company Law Tribunals.

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