The Delhi High Court permitted partial de-freezing of bank accounts of Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited (judgment debtor) to enable deposit of ?249 crore in ongoing arbitral award enforcement proceedings initiated by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).
Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar passed the order while disposing of applications seeking modification of earlier undertakings recorded in orders dated January 23, February 12, and March 12, 2026. The applications were filed under Section 151 CPC by the judgment debtor.
During the hearing, both parties informed the Court that they had arrived at an amicable arrangement, pursuant to which the existing undertakings required modification. Accepting the consent terms, the Court directed that the judgment debtor’s bank accounts earlier frozen shall be de-frozen to the limited extent necessary to deposit the entire agreed sum with the Registrar General of the Court by April 27, 2026.
The Court further clarified that upon successful deposit, the earlier order directing freezing of accounts would stand vacated. However, in case of default, the freezing order would automatically revive, and the modification applications would stand dismissed.
The Court preserved the rights of BHEL to seek withdrawal of the deposited amount in accordance with law, without prejudice to its entitlements under the final arbitral awards.
Appearances:
For Decree Holder: Mr. Rajiv Nayar, Senior Adv. with Mr. Kartik Nayar, Mr. Krish Kalra, Ms. Manjira Das Gupta, Mr. Shreyas Maheshwari and Mr. Prabhav Bahuguna, Advs
For Judgment Debtor: Mr. Sandeep Sethi and Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Senior Advocate with Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Mr. Rishi Agrawala, Mr. Arshit Anand, Ms. Vidisha Swarup, Ms. Tarini Khurana and Ms. Riya Kumar, Advs.
