Arbitral Award as per Arbitration referred by the Civil Court and merged in the civil court decree does not require registration

The Petitioner had filed suit for partition and separate possession of the properties.   It was decreed on 7.6.1986.

In the appeal, the District Court referred the matter to the arbitration for as a mode of ADR amicable settlement between the parties.

Consent Award dated on 4.7.1996 was accepted and accordingly, on 13.4.199, the decree was passed.

The case for execution of the decree was dismissed on the ground that the Arbitral Award was not drawn on the stamp paper and it was not registered.

HELD that the Arbitrator was not appointed under Section 11 of the Arbitration Act, 1996, the Civil Court referred the matter as part of ADR to arbitration, the Arbitral Award had merged in the decree, the Executing Court has no powers to go behind the decree to hold that the decree is an arbitral award and therefore, the order dismissing the execution case is illegal.

Judgment dated 17.1.2024 in W.P.No.33944 of 2013 (GM-CPC) of H R Satyanarayana Vs H C Suresha and others