Jharkhand High Court
B.N. Hotels (P) Ltd vs Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd. & Etc.) And Other ... on 13 April, 2018
Author: Aparesh Kumar Singh
Bench: Aparesh Kumar Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(C) No.5657 of 2017
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B.N. Hotels (P) Ltd., Jharia, Dhanbad. ............ Petitioner/Judgment Debtor Vrs.
M/s Shri Ram Multicom Pvt. Ltd., Dhanbad. ....... Respondent/Decree Holder .......
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE APARESH KUMAR SINGH ......
For the Petitioner : Mr. Rahul Kumar Gupta, Adv.
For the Respondent : Mr. Indrajit Sinha, Adv.
......
06/13.04.2018 Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The order impugned is dated 11th July 2017 passed in Original Suit No.32 of 2017 / Execution Case No.31 of 2016 by learned Presiding Officer, Commercial Court, Dhanbad. The petitioner herein had preferred an application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 against the award dated 16th January 2013 passed by the learned Arbitrator, before the learned court of Special Judge-I, Dhanbad which was registered as Misc. (Arbitration) Case No.08/2013. By the impugned award learned Arbitrator had awarded a sum of Rs. 14,13,63,537/- with interest @ 15% per annum in favour of the respondent herein. The Misc. case stood transferred to the court of Presiding Officer, Commercial Court, Dhanbad. The Misc. (Arbitration) Case No.08/2013 is still pending and no application for stay of the award was filed on behalf of the judgment debtor-applicant. In the meantime, the Execution Case No.31/2016 was filed by the decree holder for execution of award. It is also pending before the learned Presiding Officer, Commercial Court, Dhanbad. By the impugned order the learned Commercial Court declined the objection taken to the execution proceedings by the judgment debtor/writ petitioner relying upon the unamended Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and Section 26 of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015.
The issue in question here is whether the provisions of amended Section 36 would apply to a proceeding pending before the date of Amendment Act in matters of enforcement of the award in question? The plea raised on behalf of the judgment debtor/writ petitioner was that in view of Section 26 of the Amendment Act, 2015, the case of the parties would be governed by the unamended provisions of Section 36.
-2-Section 26 of the Amendment Act, 2015 and the amended Section 36 read as under :-
"Section 26. Act not to apply to pending arbitral proceedings.
Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the arbitral proceedings commenced, in accordance with the provisions of Section 21 of the Principal Act, before the commencement of this Act unless the parties otherwise agree but this Act shall apply in relation to arbitral proceedings commenced on or after the date of commencement of this Act."
"Section 36. Enforcement.
(1) Where the time for making an application to set aside the arbitral award under Section 34 has expired, then, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), such award shall be enforced in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in the same manner as if it were a decree of the court.
(2) Where an application to set aside the arbitral award has been filed in the Court under Section 34, the filing of such an application shall not by itself render that award unenforceable, unless the Court grants an order of stay of the operation of the said arbitral award in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3), on a separate application made for that purpose.
(3) Upon filing of an application under sub-section (2) for stay of the operation of the arbitral award, the Court may, subject to such conditions as it may deem fit, grant stay of the operation of such award for reasons to be recorded in writing:
Provided that the Court shall, while considering the application for grant of stay in the case of an arbitral award for payment of money, have due regard to the provisions for grant of stay of a money decree under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908)."
The whole issue revolves around the interpretation of the provisions of Section 36 of the Act as amended and whether enforcement proceedings are procedural in nature or substantive. This issue now stands conclusively answered by the judgment rendered by the Apex Court in Civil Appeal No. 2879-2880 of 2018 (Board of Control for Cricket in India Vs. Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd. & Etc.) and other analogous cases decided on 15th March 2018. The opinion of the Apex Court contained at paragraphs-39 to 46 are quoted hereunder :-
"39. From a reading of Section 26 as interpreted by us, it thus becomes clear that in all cases where the Section 34 petition is filed after the commencement of the Amendment Act, and an application for stay having been made under Section 36 therein, will be -3- governed by Section 34 as amended and Section 36 as substituted. But, what is to happen to Section 34 petitions that have been filed before the commencement of the Amendment Act, which were governed by Section 36 of the old Act ? Would Section 36, as substituted, apply to such petitions? To answer this question, we have necessarily to decide on what is meant by "enforcement" in Section 36. On the one hand, it has been argued that "enforcement" is nothing but "execution", and on the other hand, it has been argued that "enforcement" and "execution" are different concepts, "enforcement" being substantive and "execution" being procedural in nature.
40. At this stage, it is necessary to set out the scheme of the 1996 Act. An arbitral proceeding commences under Section 21, unless otherwise agreed by parties, when a dispute arises between the parties for which a request for the dispute to be referred to arbitration is received by the respondent. The arbitral proceedings terminate under Section 32(1) by the delivery of a final arbitral award or by the circumstances mentioned in Section 32(2). The mandate of the arbitral tribunal terminates with the termination of arbitral proceedings, save and except for correction and interpretation of the award within the bounds of Section 33, or the making of an additional arbitral award as to claims presented in the proceedings, but omitted from the award. Once this is over, in cases where an arbitral award is delivered, such award shall be final and binding on the parties and persons claiming under them, under Section 35 of the 1996 Act. Under Section 36, both pre and post amendment, such award shall be "enforced" in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in the same manner as if it were a decree of the Court. It is clear that the scheme of the 1996 Act is materially different from the scheme of the 1940 Act. Under Section 17 of the 1940 Act, once an award was delivered, the Court had to pronounce judgment in accordance with the award, following which a decree would be drawn up, which would then be executable under the Code of Civil Procedure. Under Section 36 of the 1996 Act, the Court does not have to deliver judgment in terms of the award, which is then followed by a decree, which is the formal expression of the adjudication between the parties. Under Section 36 of the 1996 Act, the award is deemed to be a decree and shall be enforced under the Code of Civil Procedure as such.
41. This brings us to the manner of enforcement of a decree under the Code of Civil Procedure. A decree is enforced under the Code of Civil Procedure only through the execution process - see Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure. Also, Section 36(3), as amended, refers to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure for grant of stay of a money decree. This, in turn, has reference to Order LXI, Rule 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which appears -4- under the Chapter heading, "Stay of Proceedings and of Execution". This being so, it is clear that Section 36 refers to the execution of an award as if it were a decree, attracting the provisions of Order XXI and Order LXI, Rule 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure and would, therefore, be a provision dealing with the execution of arbitral awards. This being the case, we need to refer to some judgments in order to determine whether execution proceedings and proceedings akin thereto give rise to vested rights, and whether they are substantive in nature.
42. In Lalji Raja and Sons v. Hansraj Nathuram, (1971) 1 SCC 721 at 728, this Court was concerned with a judgment debtor's right to resist execution of a decree. Section 20(1)(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1951 was extended to Madhya Bharat and other areas, as a result of which the judgment debtor's right to resist execution of a decree was protected. In this context, this Court held that the Amendment Act of 1951 made decrees, which could have been executed only by courts in British India, executable in the whole of India. Stating that the change made was one relating to procedure only, this Court held:
"15. This provision undoubtedly protects the rights acquired and privileges accrued under the law repealed by the Amending Act. Therefore the question for decision is whether the non-executability of the decree in the Morena Court under the law in force in Madhya Bharat before the extension of "the Code" can be said to be a right accrued under the repealed law. We do not think that even by straining the language of the provision it can be said that the non-executability of a decree within a particular territory can be considered as a privilege. Therefore the only question that we have to consider is whether it can be considered as a "right accrued" within the meaning of Section 20(1)(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1950. In the first place, in order to get the benefit of that provision, the non-executability of the decree must be a right and secondly it must be a right that had accrued from the provisions of the repealed law. It is contended on behalf of the judgment-debtors that when the decree was passed, they had a right to resist the execution of the decree in Madhya Bharat in view of the provisions of the Indian Code of Civil Procedure (as adapted) which was in force in the Madhya Bharat at that time and the same is a vested right. It was further urged on their behalf that that right was preserved by Section 20(1)(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1950. It is difficult to consider the non-executability of the decree in Madhya Bharat as a vested right of the judgment-debtors. The non- executability in question pertains to the jurisdiction of -5- certain courts and not to the rights of the judgmentdebtors. Further the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Code in force in Madhya Bharat did not confer the right claimed by the judgment-debtors. All that has happened in view of the extension of "the Code" to the whole of India in 1951 is that the decrees which could have been executed only by courts in British India are now made executable in the whole of India. The change made is one relating to procedure and jurisdiction. Even before "the Code" was extended to Madhya Bharat the decree in question could have been executed either against the person of the judgment-debtors if they had happened to come to British India or against any of their properties situated in British India. The execution of the decree within the State of Madhya Bharat was not permissible because the arm of "the Code" did not reach Madhya Bharat. It was the invalidity of the order transferring the decree to the Morena Court that stood in the way of the decree-holders in executing their decree in that court on the earlier occasion and not because of any vested rights of the judgmentdebtors. Even if the judgment-debtors had not objected to the execution of the decree, the same could not have been executed by the court at Morena on the previous occasion as that court was not properly seized of the execution proceedings. By the extension of "the Code" to Madhya Bharat, want of jurisdiction on the part of the Morena Court was remedied and that court is now made competent to execute the decree.
16. That a provision to preserve the right accrued under a repealed Act "was not intended to preserve the abstract rights conferred by the repealed Act.... It only applies to specific rights given to an individual upon happening of one or the other of the events specified in statute" -- See Lord Atkin's observations in Hamilton Gell v. White. [(1922) 2 KB 422]. The mere right, existing at the date of repealing statute, to take advantage of provisions of the statute repealed is not a "right accrued" within the meaning of the usual saving clause -- See Abbot v. Minister for Lands [(1895) AC 425] and G. Ogden Industries Pvt. Ltd. v. Lucas. [(1969) 1 All ER 121]" In Narhari Shivram Shet Narvekar v. Pannalal Umediram (1976) 3 SCC 203 at 207, this Court, following Lalji Raja (supra), held as follows:
"8. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant however submitted that since the Code of Civil Procedure was not applicable to Goa the decree became inexecutable and this being a vested right could not be taken away -6- by the application of the Code of Civil Procedure to Goa during the pendency of the appeal before the Additional Judicial Commissioner. It seems to us that the right of the judgment debtor to pay up the decree passed against him cannot be said to be a vested right, nor can the question of executability of the decree be regarded as a substantive vested right of the judgment debtor. A fortiori the execution proceedings being purely a matter of procedure it is well settled that any change in law which is made during the pendency of the cause would be deemed to be retroactive in operation and the appellate court is bound to take notice of the change in law." Since it is clear that execution of a decree pertains to the realm of procedure, and that there is no substantive vested right in a judgment debtor to resist execution, Section 36, as substituted, would apply even to pending Section 34 applications on the date of commencement of the Amendment Act.
43. The matter can also be looked at from a slightly different angle. Section 36, prior to the Amendment Act, is only a clog on the right of the decree holder, who cannot execute the award in his favour, unless the conditions of this section are met. This does not mean that there is a corresponding right in the judgment debtor to stay the execution of such an award. Learned counsel on behalf of the Appellants have, however, argued that a substantive change has been made in the award, which became an executable decree only after the Section 34 proceedings were over, but which is now made executable as if it was a decree with immediate effect, and that this change would, therefore, take away a vested right or accrued privilege in favour of the Respondents. It has been argued, relying upon a number of judgments, that since Section 36 is a part of the enforcement process of awards, there is a vested right or at least a privilege accrued in favour of the Appellants in the unamended 1996 Act applying insofar as arbitral proceedings and court proceedings in relation thereto have commenced, prior to the commencement of the Amendment Act. The very judgment strongly relied upon by senior counsel for the appellants, namely Garikapati Veeraya (supra), itself states in proposition (v) at page 515, that the vested right of appeal can be taken away only by a subsequent enactment, if it so provides specifically or by necessary intendment and not otherwise. We have already held that Section 26 does specifically provide that the court proceedings in relation to arbitral proceedings, being independent from arbitral proceedings, would not be viewed as a continuation of arbitral proceedings, but would be viewed separately. This being the case, it is unnecessary to refer to judgments such as Union of India v. A.L. Rallia Ram, -7- (1964) 3 SCR 164 and NBCC Ltd. v. J.G. Engineering (P) Ltd., (2010) 2 SCC 385, which state that a Section 34 proceeding is a supervisory and not an appellate proceeding. Snehadeep Structures (P) Ltd. v. Maharashtra Small-Scale Industries Development Corpn. Ltd., (2010) 3 SCC 34 at 47-49, which was cited for the purpose of stating that a Section 34 proceeding could be regard as an "appeal" within the meaning of Section 7 of the Interest on Delayed Payments To Small Scale and Ancillary Industrial Undertakings Act, 1993, is obviously distinguishable on the ground that it pertains to the said expression appearing in a beneficial enactment, whose object would be defeated if the word "appeal"
did not include a Section 34 application. This is made clear by the aforesaid judgment itself as follows:
"36. On a perusal of the plethora of decisions aforementioned, we are of the view that "appeal" is a term that carries a wide range of connotations with it and that appellate jurisdiction can be exercised in a variety of forms. It is not necessary that the exercise of appellate jurisdiction will always involve reagitation of entire matrix of facts and law. We have already seen in Abhayankar [(1969) 2 SCC 74] that even an order passed by virtue of limited power of revision under Section 115 of the Code is treated as an exercise of appellate jurisdiction, though under that provision, the Court cannot go into the questions of facts. Given the weight of authorities in favour of giving such a wide meaning to the term "appeal", we are constrained to disagree with the contention of the learned counsel for the respondent Corporation that appeal shall mean only a challenge to a decree or order where the entire matrix of law and fact can be re-agitated with respect to the impugned order/decree. There is no quarrel that Section 34 envisages only limited grounds of challenge to an award; however, we see no reason why that alone should take out an application under Section 34 outside the ambit of an appeal especially when even a power of revision is treated as an exercise of appellate jurisdiction by this Court and the Privy Council. xxx xxx xxx
40. It may be noted that Section 6(1) empowers the buyer to obtain the due payment by way of any proceedings. Thus the proceedings that the buyer can resort to, no doubt, includes arbitration as well. It is pertinent to note that as opposed to Section 6(2), Section 6(1) does not state that in case the parties choose to resort to arbitration, the proceedings in pursuance thereof will be governed by the Arbitration Act. Hence, the right context in which the meaning of the term "appeal" should be interpreted is the Interest Act itself. The meaning of this term under the Arbitration Act or the Code of Civil Procedure would have been relevant if the Interest Act -8- had made a reference to them. For this very reason, we also do not find it relevant that the Arbitration Act deals with applications and appeals in two different chapters. We are concerned with the meaning of the term "appeal" in the Interest Act, and not in the Arbitration Act."
44. Learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondents, has also argued that the expression "has been" in Section 36(2), as amended, would make it clear that the section itself refers to Section 34 applications which have been filed prior to the commencement of the Amendment Act and that, therefore, the said section would apply, on its plain language, even to Section 34 applications that have been filed prior to the commencement of the Amendment Act. For this purpose, the judgment in State of Bombay v. Vishnu Ramchandra (1961) 2 SCR 26, was strongly relied upon. In that judgment, it was observed, while dealing with Section 57 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951, that the expression "has been punished" is in the present perfect tense and can mean either "shall have been" or "shall be". Looking to the scheme of the enactment as a whole, the Court felt that "shall have been" is more appropriate. This decision was referred to in paragraphs 60 and 61 of Workmen v. Firestone Tyre & Rubber Co. of India (P) Ltd., (1973) 1 SCC 813 at 838 and the ratio culled out was that such expression may relate to past or future events, which has to be gathered from the context, as well as the scheme of the particular legislation. In the context in which Section 11A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was enacted, this Court held that Section 11A has the effect of altering the law by abridging the rights of the employer. This being so, the expression "has been" would refer only to future events and would have no implication to disputes prior to December 15, 1971. However, in a significant paragraph, this Court held:
"63. It must be stated at this stage that procedural law has always been held to operate even retrospectively, as no party has a vested right in procedure...."
45. Being a procedural provision, it is obvious that the context of Section 36 is that the expression "has been" would refer to Section 34 petitions filed before the commencement of the Amendment Act and would be one pointer to the fact that the said section would indeed apply, in its substituted form, even to such petitions. The judgment in L'Office Cherifien Des Phosphates and another v. Yamashita-Shinnihon Steamship Co. Ltd., (1994) 1 AC 486 is instructive. A new Section 13A was introduced with effect from 1st January, 1992, by which Arbitrators were vested with the power of dismissing a claim if there is no inordinate or an inexcusable delay on the part of the claimant in pursuing the claim. This Section was enacted because the House of Lords in a certain decision had suggested that such delays in arbitration could not -9- lead to a rejection of the claim by itself. What led to the enactment of the Section was put by Lord Mustill thus:
"My Lords, the effect of the decision of the House in the Bremer Vulkan case, coupled with the inability of the courts to furnish any alternative remedy which might provide a remedy for the abuse of stale claims, aroused a chorus of disapproval which was forceful, sustained and (so far as I am aware) virtually unanimous. There is no need to elaborate. The criticisms came from every quarter. Several Commonwealth countries hastily introduced legislation conferring on the court, or on the arbitrator, a jurisdiction to dismiss stale claims in arbitration. The history of the matter, and the reasons why the question was not as easy as it might have appeared, were summarized in an article published in 1989 by Sir Thomas Bingham (Arbitration International, vol. 5, pp. 333 et seq.), and there is no need to rehearse them here. Taking account of various apparent difficulties the Departmental Advisory Committee on Arbitration hesitated for a time both as to the principle and as to whether the power to dismiss should be vested in the court or the arbitrator, but the pressure from all quarters became irresistible and in 1990 the Courts and Legal Services Act inserted, through the medium of Section 102, a new Section 13A in the Arbitration Act, 1950." (at page 522) The question which arose in that case was whether delay that had taken place before the Section came into force could be taken into account by an arbitrator in order to reject the claim in that case. The House of Lords held that given the clamor for change and given the practical value and nature of the rights involved, it would be permissible to look at delay caused even before the Section came into force. In his concluding paragraph, Lord Mustill held: "In this light, I turn to the language of Section 13A construed, in case of doubt, by reference to its legislative background. The crucial words are: "(a). . . there has been inordinate and inexcusable delay . . . " Even if read in isolation these words would I believe be sufficient, in the context of Section 13A as a whole, to demonstrate that the delay encompasses all the delay which has caused the substantial risk of unfairness. If there were any doubt about this the loud and prolonged chorus of complaints about the disconformity between practices in arbitration and in the High Court, and the increasing impatience for something to be done about it, show quite clearly that Section 13A was intended to bite in full from the outset. If the position were otherwise it would follow that, although Parliament has accepted the advice of all those who had urged that this objectionable system -10- should be brought to an end, and has grasped the nettle and provided a remedy, it has reconciled itself to the continuation of arbitral proceedings already irrevocably stamped with a risk of injustice. I find it impossible to accept that Parliament can have intended any such thing, and with due respect to those who have suggested otherwise I find the meaning of Section 13A sufficiently clear to persuade me that in the interests of reform Parliament was willing to tolerate the very qualified kind of hardship involved in giving the legislation a partially retrospective effect. Accordingly, I agree with Beldam L.J. that the arbitrator did have the powers to which he purported to exercise. I would therefore allow the appeal and restore the award of the arbitrator."
46. In 2004, this Court's Judgment in National Aluminium Company (supra) had recommended that Section 36 be substituted, as it defeats the very objective of the alternative dispute resolution system, and that the Section should be amended at the earliest to bring about the required change in law. It would be clear that looking at the practical aspect and the nature of rights presently involved, and the sheer unfairness of the unamended provision, which granted an automatic stay to execution of an award before the enforcement process of Section 34 was over (and which stay could last for a number of years) without having to look at the facts of each case, it is clear that Section 36 as amended should apply to Section 34 applications filed before the commencement of the Amendment Act also for the aforesaid reasons."
In the light of the law laid down by the Apex Court in the case of BCCI (supra), the challenge to the impugned order fails.
Learned counsel for the writ petitioner has vainly tried to seek support from a proposed amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act which according to him, may revive the old position in law. However, adjudication of the matter in any case cannot depend upon such unforeseen contingencies. In substance, therefore, the writ petition is devoid of merit and it is accordingly dismissed.
(Aparesh Kumar Singh, J.) Shamim/