Citation: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. v. Sh. Pankaj (Since Deceased) Through LRs. 2026 DHC 8467-DB
In a recent judgment the Delhi High Court dealt with an appeal filed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) challenging a lower court order that had set aside an arbitral award. The High Court ruled that the lower court wrongly applied modern legal amendments (specifically, the 2015 amendments regarding the neutrality and eligibility of arbitrators) retrospectively to an arbitration that had already started and whose tribunal was formed before those rules came into effect. Consequently, the High Court allowed DMRC’s appeal, set aside the lower court’s adverse judgment, and upheld the validity of the original arbitral tribunal’s constitution and its award.
The court upheld the core legal principle that the 2015 statutory amendments regarding the disqualification and neutrality of arbitrators (specifically Section 12(5) read with the Seventh Schedule) cannot be applied retrospectively to invalidate an arbitral tribunal that was already constituted and whose proceedings commenced before October 23, 2015, unless the parties explicitly agreed to subject their arbitration to the new rules. Under the law prevailing at the time of appointment, an employee of one of the parties was not automatically barred from serving as an arbitrator unless actual bias or justifiable doubts regarding their independence were proven.