Supreme Court Orders Arbitration in HPL vs NLU Odisha Dispute

The Supreme Court has reversed the Orissa High Court's decision to dismiss Hindustan Prefab Limited's (HPL) plea for appointing an arbitrator in its case against the National Law University, Odisha (NLUO). The Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan emphasized that the presence of an arbitration agreement necessitates referring disputes to arbitration irrespective of the claim's merits or maintainability.

Representing HPL were Advocates Gaurav Gupta, Rajesh Kumar, Vinit Tyagi, and Gaurav Goel. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, assisted by a team including Pankaj Singhal, Akshat Kumar, defended NLUO. Disputes arose from a contract awarded by NLUO to HPL, resulting in arbitration proceedings that initially ruled against HPL.

Challenging the arbitration award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, HPL sought reimbursement from NLUO. The Orissa High Court had previously dismissed HPL's application, but the Supreme Court highlighted that courts should only verify arbitration agreements' existence and leave other matters to the tribunal. Hence, Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya was appointed as the sole arbitrator.