Arbitrability of fraud in India

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: 5/7, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, language: English, abstract: An arbitration agreement is barred to the jurisdiction of civil courts under section 8 of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter, the Act) since the parties agree to settle disputes by a mechanism other than the ordinary court proceedings i.e. arbitration and such an agreement is not hit by sec 28 of Indian Contract Act, 1872. However, a legitimate question arises whether a civil court can try those cases where the agreement is itself tainted by the elements of fraud. This issue has been dealt with comprehensively by the courts and has been settled, to a certain extent, by the Supreme Court in the case of A. Ayyasamy vs A. Paramasivam. The essay shall briefly deal with the cases which spurred the debate over arbitrability of fraud along with suggestions for further improvement.

Abhinav Mishra is a practising lawyer in Delhi (India) and has appeared in matters including but not limited to matters relating to corporate insolvency, oppression and mismanagement, electricity cases such as those relating to truing up tariff and generation tariff, high stake recovery suits and arbitration matters. He is passionate about writing and has authored several papers in national and international journals on a variety of subjects such as criminal, constitutional, arbitration and commercial laws.