Arbitration – Costs on claimant prosecuting litigation from 2002 to 2024
Judgment dated 25.6.2024 of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in Commercial Appeal NO.90 of 2020 in Commercial Arbitration Petition No.812 of 2019 of Ivory Properties & Hotels Private Limited Vs. Vasantben Ramniklal Bhuta and others with connected matters.
Important judgment on the failure of basic process in adjudicating the dispute, manner of drawing conjectural and arbitrary conclusions amounting to patent illegality by the Ld. Arbitrator against the basic notions of justice and the fundamental policy of Indian Law.
Cost imposed on the successful claimant – appellant prosecuting Section 37 AA petition for the long-drawn litigation from 2002 till 2024, the expansive scope of pleadings and arguments on various points and sub-points, the litigation demonstrates the appellant – claimant taking a chance with the litigation in the teeth of a well reasoned and articulate impugned judgment. Therefore, the costs must follow the event of the action and the entitlement of the successful party to recover costs from the unsuccessful party deserves to be upheld. The Division Bench directed the appellant – claimant to pay Rs.40 lakhs as costs to both the respondents for the elaborate reasons given in paras 53 and 54 of the judgment.
