👉 The object of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act was to “reduce and minimize the supervisory role of courts in the arbitral process”. On the contrary, when the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 came into existence, instead of promoting that object, the Indian courts have been time and again given absolute power to interfere during the proceedings. This is one of the biggest impediments to why India is not preferred by parties as a hub for arbitration.

👉 Arbitration proceedings involve several orders issued by the Tribunal and respective courts wherein few orders are subject to appeal.

👉 An appeal shall lie from the following orders (and from no others) to the Court authorised by law to hear appeals from original decrees of the Court passing the order, namely:—

(a) Granting or refusing to grant any measure under section 9;
(b) Setting aside or refusing to set aside an arbitral award under
section 34. (2)

👉 An appeal can be filed under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act, 1996 in case the court sets aside or refuses to set aside the arbitral award under Section 34. Unlike, the time period of 3 months plus 30 days provided under Section 34, no time period has been prescribed under the Arbitration Act, 1996 for filing an appeal under Section 37 , which exhausts the award holder.

👉 An appeal shall also lie to a Court from an order granting of the arbitral tribunal:—

(a) Accepting the plea referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) of section 16; or
(b) Granting or refusing to grant an interim measure under section 17. (3)

👉 No second appeal shall lie from an order passed in appeal under this section, but nothing in this section shall affect or take away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Post note: Can a third party Appeal?

👉 Normal practice is, parties who are not satisfied with the result of the court or tribunal can appeal. However, a new precedent arising out of arbitration proceedings is that, can a third party appeal to the order of an arbitrator.

👉 In the case of Prabhat Steel Traders Pvt. Ltd. v. Excel Metal Processors Pvt. Ltd., the Bombay high court held that a third party can appeal to the order u/s 37 of the Act if they are affected by such order directly or indirectly passed by the tribunal under section 17 of the Act. Hence, according to this landmark judgment, a third party can also appeal under section 37, if affected under section 17 of the Act.