Single arbitration reference not sufficient for multiple agreements

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The Supreme Court recently held that there cannot be a single arbitration reference for disputes arising out of different agreements, even if they are inter-linked to a single transaction.

In M/s Duro Felguera SA V M/s Gangavaram Port Ltd, a developer of a green-field sea port near Gangavaram village in Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh state, in 2011 granted a contract as per tender/bid to Spanish company Duro Felguera Plantas Industrials S.A. – now Duro Felguera (DF) – along with its Indian subsidiary Felguera Gruas India (FGI), which had submitted a single bid/tender-original package No. 4 tender document. The original package No. 4 tender document was split up into five separate contracts after discussions, with different job descriptions. Four of the contracts were with FGI and one of them was with DF. Each contract had a separate arbitration clause.

Gangavaram Port Ltd (GPL) in 2016 invoked a bank guarantee given by DF due to an inordinate delay. GPL had also issued termination notices in 2016 to DF and FGI. FGI then issued four arbitration notices and DF issued one arbitration notice under the respective agreements separately nominating their nominee arbitrator. GPL issued a comprehensive arbitration notice nominating its nominee arbitrator contending that five arbitration notices issued by DF and FGI were untenable, since DF had guaranteed the performance of the works covered under all the five packages and there has to be only one single arbitral tribunal for resolving the disputes of “international commercial arbitration”.

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The dispute digest is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.

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