The Supreme Court has restored an arbitral award in favour of Navayuga Engineering Company Limited and Sew Infrastructure Limited, setting aside the Sikkim High Court’s judgment that had interfered with the award, while clarifying that no relief could be granted to the third consortium member which did not challenge the High Court ruling.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K. Vinod Chandran held that the controversy in the appeals was squarely covered by the Court’s earlier decision in Prakash Atlanta (JV) v National Highways Authority of India, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 1998.
The Court noted that the arbitral award dated October 1, 2019 had been passed in favour of a consortium comprising three companies : Navayuga Engineering Company Limited, Sew Infrastructure Limited, and Abir Infrastructure Private Limited. However, only Navayuga and Sew Infrastructure approached the Supreme Court challenging the May 30, 2025 judgment of the Sikkim High Court in Arb. A. No. 1 of 2024.
As regards Abir Infrastructure Private Limited, the Court recorded that insolvency proceedings had been initiated against it under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. However, the Bench held that irrespective of that position, since Abir Infrastructure Pvt Ltd had not independently challenged the High Court judgment, no relief could be extended to it.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the appeals filed by Navayuga and Sew Infrastructure, set aside the High Court judgment insofar as it concerned those two companies, and restored the arbitral award in their favour.
The Court also vacated its interim order dated October 14, 2025, directing release of the amounts lying in fixed deposits to the successful appellants.
