Case: AVITEL POST STUDIOZ LIMITED AND ORS Vs. HSBC PI HOLDING (MAURITIUS) LIMITED

it had been advised by the Jain Family (making the representations also on behalf of Avitel India), verbally, in writing and in the SSA itself, that Avitel India was about to and from 2 August 2011 had signed a contract with the BBC, for the BBC to use the services of Avitel India. This was false. Not only had a contract not been negotiated, let alone signed with the BBC, but the BBC had no knowledge of it. 20.4 The misrepresentations and deception of the Respondents included the arrangement of a meeting between a representative of HSBC and a person who was falsely held out by the Respondents and purported to be the Chief Technical Officer of the BBC and who falsely purported to corroborate the Respondents misrepresentations. The representations were made prior to the conclusion of the SSA and in the SSA itself. They were made knowingly to be untrue and were fraudulent. As a result thereof, it was found that HSBC, in respect of its claim for fraudulent misrepresentation, and its claim in tort for deceit, is entitled to damages in the total amount of USD 60 million plus interest and costs as awarded. The final declaration made in the Award then reads: 21.21 [The tribunal] Declares and Orders that upon the Respondents paying in full and unconditionally the sums awarded to the Claimant in paragraphs 21.15, 21.16, 21.18, 21.19 hereinabove and all costs arising out of and incidental to the cancellation of the Claimants Preference Subscription Shares and Equity Subscription Shares (as defined in the SSA) in Avitel India, that the said shares be cancelled and that in this regard, the Parties take the requisite steps to effect the said cancellation within 30 days of receipt of such payment. 21. There can be no doubt whatsoever after reading the issues and some of the material findings in the Foreign Final Award that the issues raised and answered are the subject matter of civil as opposed to criminal proceedings. The fact that a separate criminal proceeding was sought to be started and may have failed is of no consequence whatsoever. We, therefore, hold on a conspectus of these facts, and following our judgments, that the issues raised and answered in the Foreign Final Award would indicate: (i) That there is no such fraud as would vitiate the arbitration clause in the SSA entered into between the parties as it is clear that this clause has to be read as an independent clause. Further, any finding that the contract itself is either null and void or voidable as a result of fraud or misrepresentation does not entail the invalidity of the arbitration clause which is extremely wide, reading as follows: Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, including any question regarding its existence, validity, interpretation, breach or termination …… (emphasis supplied) (ii) That the impersonation, false representations made, and diversion of funds are all inter parties, having no public flavour as explained in paragraph 14 so as to attract the fraud exception. 22. Thus, a reading of the Foreign Final Award in this case would show that a strong prima facie case has indeed been made out as the Award holds the BBC transaction as a basis on which the contract was entered into and the USD 60 million paid by HSBC, which would clearly fall within fraudulent inducement to enter into a contract under section 17 of the Contract Act. Such a contract would be voidable at the instance of HSBC. Also, the findings on the siphoning off of monies that were meant to be allocated for the performance of the BBC contract would attract the tort of deceit. The measure of damages for such fraudulent misrepresentation is not the difference between the value of the shares on the date of making the contract and the value HSBC would have received, if it had resold those shares in the market, after the purchase. As has been held in the judgments stated hereinabove, the measure of such damages would be to put HSBC in the same position as if the contract had never been entered into, which is, the entitlement to recover the price paid for the shares and all consequential losses. This being the case, it is difficult to accede to the Division Benchs finding as to the measure of damages in such cases. 23. So far as the other points raised by M/s. Mukul Rohatgi and Saurabh Kirpal are concerned, we wish to say nothing, as any finding on these points even prima facie would prejudice the section 48 proceedings pending in the Bombay High Court. So far as the appeal of HSBC is concerned, we are of the view that it has substance in that the USD 60 million that was to be kept aside vide the Single Judges order, was fair and just in the facts of the case in that it is only the principal amount without any interest or costs that is ordered to be kept aside. Further, the reduction of USD 60 million to USD 30 million by the Division Bench is not justified given our finding on the measure of damages in the facts of this case. 24. It is clarified that any finding made on facts in this judgment is only prima facie for the purpose of deciding the section 9 petition. We have held that HSBC has made out a strong prima facie case necessitating that USD 60 million, being the principal amount awarded to them, is kept apart in the manner indicated by the learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court. The balance of convenience is also in its favour. It is clear that in case HSBC was to enforce the Foreign Final Award in India in accordance with section 48 of the 1996 Act, irreparable loss would be caused to it unless at least the principal sum were kept aside for purposes of enforcement of the award in India.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]5. First and foremost, it is correct to state that this prima facie case would necessarily depend upon what is the substantive law in India qua arbitrability when allegations of fraud are raised by one of the parties to the arbitration agreement.It will be seen from section 20 of the 1940 Act, as was held in Abdul Kadir (supra), that a wide discretion is vested in the Court if sufficient cause is made out not to refer parties to arbitration. It was in that context that the observations in Abdul Kadir (supra) as to serious allegations of fraud triable in a civil court, being sufficient cause shown under section 20(4) of the 1940 Act were made. Also, the approach of the 1940 Act is made clear by section 35(1), which is set out hereinbelow:35. Effect of legal proceedings on arbitration.—(1) No reference nor award shall be rendered invalid by reason only of the commencement of legal proceedings upon the subject-matter of the reference, but when legal proceedings upon the whole of the subject-matter of the reference have been commenced between all the parties to the reference and a notice thereof has been given to the arbitrators or umpire, all further proceedings in a pending reference shall, unless a stay of proceedings is granted under Section 34, be invalid.xxx xxx xxxThus, even where arbitral proceedings are ongoing, such proceedings become invalid the moment legal proceedings upon the whole of the subject matter of the reference have been commenced between all the parties to the reference and a notice thereof has been given to the arbitrators or umpire. As against this, sections 5, 8 and 16 of the 1996 Act reflect a completely new approach to arbitration, which is that when a judicial authority is shown an arbitration clause in an agreement, it is mandatory for the authority to refer parties to arbitration bearing in mind the fact that the arbitration clause is an agreement independent of the other terms of the contract and that, therefore, a decision by the arbitral tribunal that the contract is null and void does not entail ipso jure the invalidity of the arbitration clause. Even otherwise, N. Radhakrishnan (supra) did not refer to the ratio of Abdul Kadir (supra) correctly. As has been seen by us hereinabove, Abdul Kadir (supra) held that serious allegations of fraud are not made out when allegations of moral or other wrongdoing inter parties are made. In particular, it was held that discrepancies in account books are the usual subject matter in account suits, which are purely of a civil nature. For all these reasons, we are broadly in agreement with the observations of Nijjar, J. rendering N. Radhakrishnan (supra) lacking in precedential value.11. Now comes the important judgment in Ayyasamy (supra). Two separate judgments were delivered by a Division Bench of this Court. Sikri, J., after referring to the judgments in Abdul Kadir (supra), N. Radhakrishnan (supra), Swiss Timing (supra), and Booz Allen (supra), then referred to the 246 th Law Commission Report, in particular to paragraphs 50 and 51 thereof.12. It is a little difficult to apply this case to resurrect the ratio of N. Radhakrishnan (supra) as a binding precedent given the advance made in the law by this Court since N. Radhakrishnan (supra) was decided. Quite apart from what has been stated by us in paragraph 9 above, as to how N. Radhakrishnan (supra) cannot be considered to be a binding precedent for the reasons given in the said paragraph, we are of the view that the development of the law by this Court cannot be thwarted merely because a certain provision recommended in a Law Commission Report is not enacted by Parliament. Parliament may have felt, as was mentioned by Lord Reid in British Railways Board and Herrington, 1972 A.C. 877 [House of Lords], that it was unable to make up its mind and instead, leave it to the courts to continue, case by case, deciding upon what should constitute the fraud exception. Parliament may also have thought that section 16(7), proposed by the Law Commission, is clumsily worded as it speaks of a serious question of law, complicated questions of fact, or allegations of fraud, corruption, etc. N. Radhakrishnan (supra) did not lay down that serious questions of law or complicated questions of fact are non-arbitrable. Further, allegations of fraud, corruption, etc. is vague. For this reason also, Parliament may have left it to the courts to work out the fraud exception. In any case, we have pointed out that dehors any such provision, the ratio in N. Radhakrishnan (supra), being based upon a judgment under the 1940 Act, and without considering sections 5, 8 and 16 of the 1996 Act in their proper perspective, would all show that the law laid down in this case cannot now be applied as a precedent for application of the fraud mantra to negate arbitral proceedings. For the reasons given in this judgment, the House of Lords decision would have no application inasmuch as N. Radhakrishnan (supra) has been tackled on the judicial side and has been found to be wanting.After these judgments, it is clear that serious allegations of fraud arise only if either of the two tests laid down are satisfied, and not otherwise. The first test is satisfied only when it can be said that the arbitration clause or agreement itself cannot be said to exist in a clear case in which the court finds that the party against whom breach is alleged cannot be said to have entered into the agreement relating to arbitration at all. The second test can be said to have been met in cases in which allegations are made against the State or its instrumentalities of arbitrary, fraudulent, or malafide conduct, thus necessitating the hearing of the case by a writ court in which questions are raised which are not predominantly questions arising from the contract itself or breach thereof, but questions arising in the public law domain.15. At this stage, it is necessary to deal with the broad statement of the law in Afcons (supra) and Booz Allen (supra). When Afcons (supra) refers in paragraph 27(iv) to cases involving serious and specific allegations of fraud, fabrication of documents, forgery, impersonation, coercion, etc. , this must now be understood in the sense laid down in Ayyasamy (supra) and Rashid Raza (supra). When it comes to paragraph 27(vi) in Afcons (supra), and paragraph 36(i) in Booz Allen (supra), namely, cases involving prosecution for criminal offences, it is also important to remember that the same set of facts may have civil as well as criminal consequences.16. In the light of the aforesaid judgments, paragraph 27(vi) of Afcons (supra) and paragraph 36(i) of Booz Allen (supra), must now be read subject to the rider that the same set of facts may lead to civil and criminal proceedings and if it is clear that a civil dispute involves questions of fraud, misrepresentation, etc. which can be the subject matter of such proceeding under section 17 of the Contract Act, and/or the tort of deceit, the mere fact that criminal proceedings can or have been instituted in respect of the same subject matter would not lead to the conclusion that a dispute which is otherwise arbitrable, ceases to be so.It has been held by the Bombay High Court in Fazal D. Allana v. Mangaldas M. Pakvasa, AIR 1922 Bom 303 , that section 17 of the Contract Act only applies if the contract itself is obtained by fraud or cheating. However, a distinction is made between a contract being obtained by fraud and performance of a contract (which is perfectly valid) being vitiated by fraud or cheating. The latter would fall outside section 17 of the Contract Act, in which the remedy for damages would be available, but not the remedy for treating the contract itself as being void (see pp. 311-312). This is for the reason that the words with intent to deceive another party thereto or his agent must be read with the words or to induce him to enter into the contract, both sets of expressions speaking in relation to the formation of the contract itself. This is further made clear by sections 10, 14 and 19, which have already been referred to hereinabove, all of which deal with fraud at the stage of entering into the contract. Even section 17(5) which speaks of any such act or omission as the law specially deals to be fraudulent must mean such act or omission under such law at the stage of entering into the contract. Thus, fraud that is practiced outside of section 17 of the Contract Act, i.e., in the performance of the contract, may be governed by the tort of deceit, which would lead to damages, but not rescission of the contract itself.18. Both kinds of fraud are subsumed within the expression fraud when it comes to arbitrability of an agreement which contains an arbitration clause.21. There can be no doubt whatsoever after reading the issues and some of the material findings in the Foreign Final Award that the issues raised and answered are the subject matter of civil as opposed to criminal proceedings. The fact that a separate criminal proceeding was sought to be started and may have failed is of no consequence whatsoever. We, therefore, hold on a conspectus of these facts, and following our judgments, that the issues raised and answered in the Foreign Final Award would indicate:(i) That there is no such fraud as would vitiate the arbitration clause in the SSA entered into between the parties as it is clear that this clause has to be read as an independent clause. Further, any finding that the contract itself is either null and void or voidable as a result of fraud or misrepresentation does not entail the invalidity of the arbitration clause which is extremely wide, reading as follows:Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, including any question regarding its existence, validity, interpretation, breach or termination ……(ii) That the impersonation, false representations made, and diversion of funds are all inter parties, having no public flavour as explained in paragraph 14 so as to attract the fraud exception.22. Thus, a reading of the Foreign Final Award in this case would show that a strong prima facie case has indeed been made out as the Award holds the BBC transaction as a basis on which the contract was entered into and the USD 60 million paid by HSBC, which would clearly fall within fraudulent inducement to enter into a contract under section 17 of the Contract Act. Such a contract would be voidable at the instance of HSBC. Also, the findings on the siphoning off of monies that were meant to be allocated for the performance of the BBC contract would attract the tort of deceit. The measure of damages for such fraudulent misrepresentation is not the difference between the value of the shares on the date of making the contract and the value HSBC would have received, if it had resold those shares in the market, after the purchase. As has been held in the judgments stated hereinabove, the measure of such damages would be to put HSBC in the same position as if the contract had never been entered into, which is, the entitlement to recover the price paid for the shares and all consequential losses. This being the case, it is difficult to accede to the Division Benchs finding as to the measure of damages in such cases.23. So far as the other points raised by M/s. Mukul Rohatgi and Saurabh Kirpal are concerned, we wish to say nothing, as any finding on these points even prima facie would prejudice the section 48 proceedings pending in the Bombay High Court. So far as the appeal of HSBC is concerned, we are of the view that it has substance in that the USD 60 million that was to be kept aside vide the Single Judges order, was fair and just in the facts of the case in that it is only the principal amount without any interest or costs that is ordered to be kept aside. Further, the reduction of USD 60 million to USD 30 million by the Division Bench is not justified given our finding on the measure of damages in the facts of this case.24. It is clarified that any finding made on facts in this judgment is only prima facie for the purpose of deciding the section 9 petition. We have held that HSBC has made out a strong prima facie case necessitating that USD 60 million, being the principal amount awarded to them, is kept apart in the manner indicated by the learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court. The balance of convenience is also in its favour. It is clear that in case HSBC was to enforce the Foreign Final Award in India in accordance with section 48 of the 1996 Act, irreparable loss would be caused to it unless at least the principal sum were kept aside for purposes of enforcement of the award in India.28. In view of the judgment in Civil Appeal No.5145 of 2016 and Civil Appeal No.5158 of 2016, we set aside the judgments of the learned ADJ and the learned Single Judge that are impugned in this appeal, and remand the matter for adjudication afresh by the ADJ, Mohali.