Case Details National Projects Construction Corporation Limited vs Royal Construction Company Private Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

10 October 2023

Case No.

Civil Appeal No. 1991 of 2019

Result

Disposed

Bench

Aniruddha Bose, Vikram Nath

Citation

[2023] 15 S.C.R. 393 : 2023 INSC 899

Issue for consideration

Whether the arbitration agreement, arbitral award or the judgment of Supreme Court dated 24.02.2015 passed in earlier round of litigation between the parties, provided for payment of the awarded amount in Indian currency.

Headnote

Arbitration – Amount awarded in Iraqi Dinars if was to be converted in Indian currency:

Held: Neither the arbitration agreement, arbitral award or the judgment of Supreme Court dated 24.02.2015 permit payment of the awarded amount in Indian currency except the amount of Rs. 20 lacs with admissible interest against the encashment of bank guarantee – Thus, there would be no question of the amount awarded in Iraqi Dinars to be converted in Indian currency – The only conversion permissible was in US Dollars – Thus, the question referred by the impugned judgment to be answered by this Court that in terms of the agreement between the parties and in light of the judgment dated 24.02.2015 of the Supreme Court, what should be the relevant date for conversion of the awarded sum from USD to Indian rupees may not arise at all – There is no occasion or requirement for determining or fixing any date for conversion of the US Dollars into Indian Currency (INR) – No issue was raised by the parties with regard to contents of the agreement or the award or the proceedings undertaken till the impugned order by the Division Bench had been passed referring the question under Article 134A of the Constitution – The agreement is thus binding on the parties – The award has attained finality and the orders passed in the multiple rounds of the litigations are also not in issue – The payment has to be made in the foreign currency only along with computed interest – It would be open for the parties to pay and the other parties claiming to accept the Indian currency either at the current rate or at the agreed rate – But, this Court cannot meddle with the terms of the agreement or the award or the directions contained in the judgment of this Court dated 24.02.2015 inter alia holding that the date of conversion would be as per the original agreement and the directions given by the arbitrator in the award will govern the field – RCCPL at liberty to continue with its execution proceedings in accordance with law – Constitution of India – Article 134A – Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – ss.34, 37. [Paras 3, 5, 12 and 13]

OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED

ORDER AND APPEARANCES

JUDGMENT / ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT VIKRAM NATH, J. 1. These two appeals have been filed under Article 134A read with Article 133(1)(a) of the Constitution of India by the rival parties before the High Court of Delhi in EFA (OS) No.19 of 2017. The High Court, by the impugned order, certified that the case involved the following substantial question of law of general importance which required a decision by this Court. CONSTRUCTION COMPANY PVT. LTD. [VIKRAM NATH, J.] “In terms of the agreement dated 29th June 1982 between the parties and in light of the judgment dated 24th Februa

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