GOPURAM ENTERPRISES LTD. Vs. INTEGRATED FINANCE COMPANY LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is by the award-debtor (the appellant in O.S.A.No.74 of 2018) against an order passed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. In the post-award petition under Section 9 of the Act, orders have been passed which are ordinarily passed in execution proceedings.

(2.) The principal contention of the appellant is that Section 9 of the Act permits orders for interim measures to be granted and the jurisdiction available to the Court at the post-award stage is till the award is enforceable. In other words, the appellant contends, that once an arbitral award becomes enforceable, the authority to entertain a petition under Section 9 of the Act or to continue with the same or pass any orders thereon vanishes.

(3.) There can be no quarrel with the legal ground which has been raised. The very wording of Section 9 of the Act permits a post-award petition for interim measures to be relevant till such time that the award becomes enforceable. Though the relevant words used in the provision are "but before it is enforced in accordance with section 36", such expression read in the context of Section 36 of the Act that provides for enforcement implies that a party may apply to a Court for interim measures only till such time that the arbitral award becomes enforceable.