The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to interfere with a Delhi High Court order concerning the appointment of arbitrators, while allowing the contractor liberty to approach the High Court seeking the appointment of an independent arbitrator.
The dispute arose after the contractor objected to appointing an arbitrator from the panel maintained by the Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes (SAROD), arguing that the panel was curated by NHAI and could compromise the neutrality of the arbitration process.
During the hearing, the bench questioned the contractor’s insistence on appointing a specific nominee arbitrator.
“You are also adamant that you want a particular bureaucrat as your arbitrator. Why couldn’t you request the High Court to appoint an independent arbitrator?” the CJI asked.
Counsel for the petitioner argued that the contractor was being “forced to select an arbitrator from their panel”, which, according to them, violated the principle of party autonomy and neutrality in arbitration.
The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, however, noted that the SAROD panel is a broad-based list of arbitrators, including former Supreme Court and High Court judges, retired secretaries to the Government of India, members of statutory bodies, engineers, and financial experts.
“Retired High Court Chief Justices and retired Supreme Court judges are in the SAROD panel,” the bench observed, noting that the stature and credibility of the panel members dispelled allegations of bias.
The bench also remarked that party autonomy in arbitration cannot extend to keeping an arbitrator “in one’s pocket.” “Autonomy does not mean that you keep an arbitrator in your pocket,” the Court said during the exchange.
Holding that the contractor’s contention that impartiality would be compromised was “misconceived and misdirected,” the Court refused to interfere. However, the bench granted liberty to the contractor to approach the High Court with a request for the appointment of an independent arbitrator either from the SAROD panel or otherwise. The petition was accordingly disposed of.