Supreme Court appoints Justice Akil Kureshi as arbitrator in international commercial arbitration case

The Supreme Court on Friday appointed former Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Akil Kureshi as the sole arbitrator in an international commercial arbitration case [Ajay Madhusudhan Patel and ors v Jyotrindra S Patel and ors].

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed the order in a dispute involving three groups - the Ajay Madhusudan Patel (AMP Group) on one hand and the Jyotrindra S Patel group (JRS group) and Samarjitsinh R Gaekwad group (SRG Group) on the other.

"The fees of the arbitrator including other modalities shall be fixed in consultation with the parties. It is made clear that all the rights and contentions of the parties are left open for adjudication by the learned arbitrator," the Court said.

The issue arose over alleged non-compliance with an agreement between the parties over purchase and sale of shares.

After an initial round of mediation between the parties had yielded no result, the JRS Group had sent an arbitration notice in December 2023 to the AMP Group.

The JRS Group had at the time nominated former Orissa High Court Chief Justice Kalpesh S Jhaveri as the sole arbitrator to resolve and adjudicate the disputes.

In January, the AMP Group responded, denying the claims made in the notice. The AMP group also raised counter-allegations.

They suggested the appointment of Justice Kureshi as an arbitrator for adjudication of all disputes between the AMP, JRS and SRG Groups.

Since there was a failure to reach an agreement on the same, the AMP Group moved the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court stressed that a detailed examination of numerous disputed questions of fact in the matter is imperative in deciding whether the SRG Group participated in the negotiation and performance of the underlying contract, and were bound by the arbitration agreement.

It added that under its limited jurisdiction as per Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, it could not conduct a mini trial to delve into the same.

It, thus, proceeded to appoint Justice Kureshi to head the arbitral tribunal.

"Once the arbitral tribunal is constituted, it shall be open for the respondents to raise all the available objections in law, and it is only after (and if) the preliminary objections are rejected that the tribunal shall proceed to adjudicate the claims of the Petitioners" it ruled.

Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, briefed by a team from Gandhi Law Associates comprising Keyur Gandhi, Kunal Vyas, and Shamik Sanjanwala appeared for the AMP Group. Advocate Anushree Prashit Kapadia appeared for the JRS Group.

Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi appeared for the SRG Group.

[Read Judgment]