Our Bureau
Singapore
In a landmark decision, the Singapore Supreme Court has quashed an arbitral award presided over by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, citing extensive copying from previous awards. The ruling has raised serious concerns about the integrity of arbitration processes and judicial conduct.
The Court of Appeal found that 47% of the arbitral award—212 out of 451 paragraphs—was copied verbatim from two prior awards involving the same presiding arbitrator. These awards were related to separate disputes but shared overlapping parties. The tribunal’s reliance on these earlier awards without independent analysis was deemed a breach of natural justice. The court emphasized that such copying created a strong appearance of prejudgment and bias, compromising the fairness of the arbitration process.
The dispute in question arose from a government railway contract managed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under India’s Ministry of Railways. The SPV had awarded a tender for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor to a consortium of three companies in 2014. However, disagreements emerged following a 2017 notification increasing minimum wages for workers, leading to demands for additional payments. When negotiations failed, arbitration commenced under International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) rules in Singapore in December 2021.
The tribunal, led by Justice Misra with two co-arbitrators—former MP HC Chief Justices Krishn Kumar Lahoti and former J&K HC Chief Justice Gita Mittal—issued its award in November 2023, ruling in favor of the consortium. However, the SPV challenged the decision, arguing that significant portions of the award were lifted from unrelated proceedings without consideration of the unique facts and submissions in this case.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon’s bench noted that such extensive copying undermined procedural integrity and fairness. It highlighted that the co-arbitrators were not privy to the earlier cases, further compromising equality among tribunal members.
