OCI CORPORATION Vs. KANDLA EXPORT CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This group of petitions filed under the Arbitration Act raise common questions of facts and law and hence, were heard together and are dealt with by this common order. The facts as stated in petition under Arbitration Act No.2/17 are made the basis of this order.

(2.) The parties to these petitions entered into different contracts for supply of Indian Rapeseed Meal and more particularly the petitioners and respondent no.1 in each of the application. At the outset, it deserves to be noted that the other respondents in each of the petitions are either partners of the firm or are directors of the Company.

(3.) As the dispute arose between the parties, the dispute was referred to Arbitration before GAFTA Tribunal in London. The disputes so referred culminated into 9 original GAFTA awards dated 28.04.2014. The respondents preferred appeals challenging the original awards before the Board of Appeal, GAFTA, London and the appellate board of GAFTA after hearing the parties was pleased to uphold all the original awards with some minor modification to the amount of damages awarded to the petitioner on the basis of the calculation of damages from the exact date of default. The record further indicates that the respondents approached GAFTA Appeal Board seeking clarification of the awards which came to be rejected by GAFTA Appellate Board vide order/communication dated 26.05.2015. The respondents carried the same further by filling appeals as provided under Sections 68 and 69 of the English Arbitration &Conciliation Act, 1996 before the High Court of Justice Queen's Division Commercial Court and the Hon'ble Queen's Bench Division of London High Court by an order dated 14.07.2015 refused leave to appeal the awards to the respondents. The respondents thereafter approached the Court of appeal in London against the order passed by the Hon'ble Queen's Bench division of London High Court and by a final order dated 04.02.2016, the Court of appeal in London refused leave to appeal against the order dated 14.07.2015 and also disallowed the plea of the respondents to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court of United Kingdom. According to the petitioners, the proceedings attained finality as per the provisions of UK Arbitration Act and hence, the petitioner filed individual applications for execution of the awards as foreign awards before the District Court at Gandhidham which came to be registered as Special Execution Petitions No.167/15 to 175/15. The record indicates that the learned District Court at Gandhidham issued notice to the respondents.