Dentons Link Legal successfully secured a favourable order before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal No. 779/2026 (Ankhim Holdings Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. Zaveri Construction Pvt. Ltd.).
The firm represented the Appellants (Petitioners) in a matter arising from a judgment of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in a Commercial Arbitration Petition filed under Section 15(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The High Court, while substituting the Arbitrator, had declared all arbitral proceedings conducted between 17.03.2022 and 25.08.2022 as a nullity, on the ground that the Respondent was under a moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 during that period.
The Supreme Court, in a significant ruling, set aside the said declaration, holding that the High Court exceeded its jurisdiction under Section 15(2) of the Act. The Court reaffirmed that substitution of an Arbitrator preserves continuity of proceedings, and prior orders and rulings of the Arbitral Tribunal remain valid unless otherwise agreed by the parties, as expressly provided under Section 15(4) of the Act. The Court further held that a court acting under Section 15(2) cannot exercise powers that are otherwise barred under the Arbitration Act, including setting aside orders under Sections 16 and 17 outside the prescribed appellate framework under Section 37.
The Supreme Court further exercised its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, declared the transactions entered into with third-party home buyers pursuant to the Arbitral Tribunal's Section 17 orders to be lawfully valid, thereby protecting the rights of the home buyers.
The matter was led by Saahil Memon (Associate Partner), along with the broader team at Dentons Link Legal.