A Singapore court has Sets Aside the order passed by a panel led by former Chief Justice of India, saying it was not fair. The court said the panel did not properly examine both sides’ arguments. It also used the wrong legal rules and contract terms. The judgment said this went against the basic rules of natural justice.
The Singapore Supreme Court has set-aside a ruling from an arbitration tribunal chaired by former Chief Justice of India Deepak Mishra, noting that 47 percent of the tribunal’s content specifically, 212 out of 451 paragraphs was copied verbatim from two previous awards involving him.
The tribunal also included former Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice Krishn Kumar Lahoti and former Jammu & Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal.
Also Read: Copy-Pasted Order| Singapore Court Cancels Arbitration Award Led by Ex-CJI Dipak Misra
A bench of the Singapore Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Justice Steven Chong, determined that the earlier awards were used as “templates… to a very substantial degree,” stating,
“It is undisputed that at least 212 paragraphs… were retained. This has several implications.”
The Court of Appeal emphasized that while it is not inherently improper for an arbitrator to address related disputes, the issue arose because “portions from the Parallel (i.e., the two earlier) Awards (being) reproduced in the (third) Award without even being adjusted for differences…” .
This situation could lead a fair-minded observer to reasonably suspect that the tribunal may have been influenced by the earlier decisions.
The dispute centered around a special-purpose vehicle managing freight corridors in India and a consortium of three companies engaged in infrastructure projects.
Specifically, it questioned whether a 2017 government notification that increased minimum wages allowed the consortium to claim additional payments under their contract.
In November 2023, after negotiations failed, the matter proceeded to arbitration in Singapore, where the tribunal chaired by ex-Chief Justice Mishra ruled in favor of the consortium.
However, the Singapore High Court later reviewed an appeal, finding that the award was copied from two prior awards involving the same presiding arbitrator, ex-CJI Mishra, who chaired all three tribunals. His co-arbitrators in November 2023 were not part of the earlier cases.
The High Court concluded that principles of natural justice had been violated due to the failure to independently evaluate the parties’ arguments and the application of incorrect contractual terms and legal principles. This, the court stated, created the appearance of bias.
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