Source: http://practicalacademic.blogspot.com/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 22:12:35+00:00

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"I realise that some of my criticisms may be mistaken; but to refuse to criticize judgements for fear of being mistaken is to abandon criticism altogether... If any of my criticisms are found to be correct, the cause is served; and if any are found to be incorrect the very process of finding out my mistakes must lead to the discovery of the right reasons, or better reasons than I have been able to give, and the cause is served just as well."
-Mr. HM Seervai, Preface to the 1st ed., Constitutional Law of India.
Post the TRF decision [TRF Ltd. v. EnergoEngineering Projects Ltd., (2017) 8 SCC 377] of the Supreme Court, there was a doubt as regards the appropriate forum to approach in case of appointment of an arbitrator whose appointment is void at the inception owing to the reason that the proposed arbitrator fell within one of the items in Schedule VII. The Supreme Court has now clarified in the decision of Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. v. United Telecoms Ltd. that since the appointment of such an arbitrator falls foul of Section 12(5), the appropriate forum to challenge such an appointment is not before the arbitrator but before the court under Section 14(2).
The court was of the view that when such a person is appointed, his mandate terminates automatically (Para 17). The Supreme Court further clarified that two questions are to be decided in a petition under Section 14(2) in the above facts: (1) whether the appointee comes within the purview of Schedule VII; (2) if so, whether there has been a waiver?
The court also distinguished between waiver in terms of Section 4 and Section 12(5). The court stated that the threshold for waiver in Section 12(5) is much higher than Section 4 in that 12(5) required that the waiver should be through an express written agreement. The court also held that the 12(5) threshold is much higher than the "writing" requirement for an arbitration agreement as provided in Section 7 of the Act.
Do read the interesting decision. It compensates for the lack of depth in the TRF decision, where the Supreme Court missed the bus by not citing or analysing the international arbitration jurisprudence regarding the role of appointing authorities and non-conflation of the role of appointing authority and arbitral tribunal.
In the previous post, we critiqued the decision of the Supreme Court in Icomm v PSWSSB (11 March 2019). Some more comments/ clarifications form the content of this post.
Whether High Courts Should Interfere in Government Contracts?
Generally, High Courts should not interfere in Government contracts unless the party will be unable to seek relief through the contracted dispute resolution mechanisms or the civil courts. Availability of alternative efficacious remedy is a well-entrenched defence in writs. Instead, courts have this nebulous test of arbitrariness and interfere at their discretion, especially when arbitrariness is such a nebulous term.
In the instant case, the court could very well have interfered considering the contracted dispute resolution clause was onerous on the claimant. But for reasons stated in the previous post, such an argument is not well-founded.
Another distinction in Government contracts must be kept in mind. There is a difference between commercial procurement by the state/ state entities as an end-in-itself and as a means to an end. For instance, procurement of 10 crores worth stationery for consumption by central government (end-in-itself) is totally different from procurement of goods for manufacture by a central PSU (means to an end). Although both are commercial and not sovereign acts of the state, there is a marked difference: The latter is usually a listed company competing in the market with other private players and should have a level playing field to enable it to compete. They are accountable to their shareholders ultimately. By ordering stay on their projects, the courts are only disabling them from being efficient by competing in open market. Therefore, the court interference in the latter cases should be only when absolutely necessary. There are agencies such as vigilance, government audit, etc. to take care of these things and court interfere in corrupt conduct is called for only if these institutions fail.
Whether the fact that the Appellant in the instant case accepted the Tender Conditions meant that he had accepted it and cannot later complain?
This argument is well-founded. The Appellant, along with all other bidders, seem to have accepted the tender conditions, including the arbitration clause. It somehow does not comport with justice and prudence to challenge it much after accepting it, taking the benefit of being awarded the contract, and then later challenging it at its convenience.
Further, even in those judicial review cases, courts would not generally go into the question of invalidity of tender clauses but only of processes. Even when courts question tender clauses, such clauses should have laid down arbitrary processes. There are umpteen judgments which state that courts would not decide how tender conditions should be framed [See, for instance, Directorate Of Education v. Educomp Datamatics Ltd. (2004) 4 SCC 19]. The same principle would apply here.
Now the question is whether the clause was a bad process. For reasons in the previous post, we disagree. Day in and day out, we see exaggerated claims being made in litigation/ arbitration. Many of the times, adjudicators don't really examine the evidence threadbare to see if the damages claimed is actually suffered.
Whether the Proportionality Test is Applicable only to Purely Public Law Aspects?
The proportionality test has been used in the realm of public law to review public law acts. While contracting by government is not a purely private act, contract law applies to it.
How can one imagine to incorporate these sub-tests in the current context? Look at the second sub-test: "the proposed action must be necessary in a democratic society for a legitimate aim"? I am sure an expert in public law while provide us with insights on all the facets of the proportionality test as is applied in India. But even the most commonly found formulation of the test is wholly inappropriate for application in the present context.
Whether the Decision is Against the Party Autonomy Doctrine?
The doctrine of party autonomy cannot be simply raised as an argument because the dynamics of the party autonomy doctrine's application in government contracts has not yet been analysed theoretically in the Indian context. Many government contracts operate on a take it or leave it basis or government parties agree only to minor tweaks in the arbitration clause in the international context. A theoretical base has to be built in the Indian context before addressing the question. At the most, it could be argued that this clause found place in the tender document and was accepted by all the other bidders. It would now be unjust on the other bidders that Icomm should be awarded the contract and should then be allowed to say that certain clauses should not be applied to it.
Conflating Public Law & Private Law: Has the SC Blundered?
The first sentence of clause viii stated the objective of the clause: to avoid frivolous claims. It further provided that the party invoking arbitration (Claimant) would have to specify the dispute based on facts and calculations and has to state the amount claimed under each claim. So far so good. It then provided that the Claimant should furnish a "deposit-at-call" to the tune of 10% of the claim amount in the name of the arbitrator in a bank till the announcement of the award.
The clause stated that if the award was in favour of the Claimant, the deposit was to be refunded to him in proportion to the amount awarded with respect to what is claimed and the balance would be forfeited and paid to the Respondent. To explain this with an illustration, if the amount claimed is Rs. 10 lakhs, the deposit-in-call would be 10% thereof, that is, Rs. 1 lakh. If the Claimant is awarded only 6 lakhs out of Rs. 10 lakhs claimed, the Claimant would be entitled to be refunded Rs. 60,000/- of the deposit and the remaining Rs. 40,000/- in the deposit would be forfeited by the Respondent. If the Claimant was successful in the whole claim, she would be refunded the entire amount but if the claim was dismissed, Rs. 1 lakh deposited would be forfeited in full by the Respondent.
Clause xv of the agreement provided: "xv. No question relating to this contract shall be brought before any civil court without first invoking and completing the arbitration proceedings, if the issue is covered by the scope of arbitration under this contract. The pending arbitration proceedings shall not disentitle the Engineer-in-charge to terminate the contract and to make alternate arrangements for completion of the works."
It provides negative incentives on the Claimant. It guards against exaggerated claims by the Claimant and provides a negative incentive for the Claimant not to do so.
If the Claimant is prevented from making exaggerated claims, the fee of the arbitrators is also kept at a reasonable level since it is ad valorem.
As we have argued in the past (see, here and here), the costs mechanism in India is not up to the mark and the arbitrators and the tribunals rarely award costs. This clause requires the tribunal to do what it should have otherwise done: award costs in favour of the Respondent and against the Claimant in respect of exaggerated claims. This is fairly standard in international arbitration practice.
The court held that the clause was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, which is really erroneous and unfortunate. The unreasonable court interference in the commercial (as opposed to sovereign) acts of the state is uncalled for and the decision requires to be revisited by a larger Bench, The unjustified application of the public law principles in such disputes stifles innovation and protection of interests of the government sector. As such government sectors, especially, public sector undertakings, face a lot of heat with regard to competing with private sector and at the same time fulfilling the socio-economic obligations . The step-motherly treatment of these sectors from the courts, the unjustified contempt and prejudice shown by the courts when it comes to the public sector needs to be relooked at by courts.
Punjab State Water Supply & Sewerage Board, Bhatinda (PSWSSB) invited tenders for a project and Icomm Tele Ltd. (Icomm) was the successful bidder. A contract was entered into between the parties and it contained a arbitration clause, which included the above quoted provision. Disputes arose and Icomm wrote to PSWSSB for appointment of arbitrator and for waiver of the 10% deposit fee, which was not responded to.
Icomm challenged the clause through a writ petition contending that clause viii was unreasonable and arbitrary but the petition was dismissed. So Icomm approached the Supreme Court.
The contract was hit by Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 in that it was a contract of adhesion and was against the public policy of India.
A 10% deposit is a clog on the arbitration process.
The clause is arbitrary and highhanded.
PSWSSB on the other hand argued that the clause applied to both parties equally and that the argument as regards public policy is not applicable in case of commercial contracts.
On the first argument that the contract was against public policy and hit by virtue of the Supreme Court's decision in Central Inland Water Transport Corpn. v. Brojo Nath Ganguly, (1986) 3 SCC 156, the court held that this being a commercial contract, Icomm cannot make a valid argument that the clause was hit by Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
In General Motors (I) (P) Ltd. v. Ashok Ramnik Lal Tolat, (2015) 1 SCC 429, the concept of punitive damages was discussed and the important principle that unless the litigation was held to be frivolous, exemplary costs would not follow.
In this case, the deposit-at-call clause called for 10% of the claim amount, which could amount to a large sum of money does not have any direct nexus to the filing of frivolous claims, as it applies to all claims, even non-frivolous, at the threshold.
The deposit-at-call clause is totally disproportionate to the object sought to be achieved, that is, prevent frivolous claims.
The clause is arbitrary in that it is unfair and unjust and no reasonable man would agree to it. There are situations where a claim may be dismissed not for reasons of frivolity as is the case with majority and minority awards. Take a case of illegal termination of contract. If the court declares the termination to be illegal and awards only one-tenth of the claim, the respondents gets to hold 10% of the that amount, which means that the party which lost the arbitration will be entitled to forfeit nine-tenths of the amount deposited. This is arbitrary, disproportionate, and would lead to unjust results.
Arbitration being an important part of the dispute resolution process, such a clause would be a clog on arbitration and cannot be encouraged. The primary objective of arbitration is speedy and efficient resolution of disputes but such a clause militates against these purposes. This clause would render the arbitration process expensive.
Apart from the critique in the first part of this post, a few other aspects are noteworthy.
Unequal Bargaining Power: The court rightly rejected the argument that the clause is invalid in view of the unequal bargaining power between the parties. The concept of unequal bargaining power is generally not applied in commercial contracts and the law is fairly settled in this regard: see, for instance, Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Ltd. and Anr. v. Brojo Nath Ganguly and Anr. MANU/SC/0439/1986, Para 89; SK Jain v Haryana MANU/SC/0323/2009; General Assurance Society Ltd. v. Chandmull Jain and Anr. MANU/SC/0180/1966; Patel Engineering v BT Patil 2016(3) Arb LR 162 (Bom).
Are Frivolous Claims Dismissed with Exemplary Costs? The ground relied on by the court that there was another way to deal with frivolous claims: "It is well settled that a frivolous claim can be dismissed with exemplary costs." This argument is not at all convincing for two reasons: (1) It is well known that rarely do Indian courts and tribunals award costs, even in proceedings of commercial nature such as arbitration proceedings (see, here, here, and here). Therefore, that courts and tribunals can grant exemplary costs is really a mirage. They don't do that, especially when the Government and the PSUs are at the receiving end.
In this blogger's experience in PSUs for ten years, courts rarely penalise petitioners for frivolous claims. Government subsidising frivolous litigation is a drain on taxpayer's money. Subsidisation of frivolous claims in commercial contracts is a massive drain on government's and taxpayer's wealth, especially in the context of PSUs. In the annals of Indian legal history, one can rarely find courts ordering costs on frivolous and unsuccessful challenges to awarding of contracts on a party instead of the petitioners. In sum, the argument relied on by the court is mere rhetoric and not a well-founded argument.
On the one hand, law is purported to be certain that assessment of damages is possible prior to a decision from a court and on the other hand, the court puts forth a hypothetical test wherein the claimant actually makes an exaggerated claim but the court gives the claimant the benefit. The hypothetical argument doesn’t comport with justice or any legitimate moral, social or economic principle.
Note that the clause does not state that if the claimant claims Rs. 10 lakhs and is awarded Rs. 10 lakhs, the respondent could forfeit the whole or part of it. It only states that if the claimant is awarded Rs. 1 lakh as against a claim of Rs. 10 lakhs (exaggerated), the respondent would be entitled to foreit Rs. 90,000 from Rs. one lakh deposited.
Stifling of Innovation: Stifles innovation in government sector, especially in the commercial contracts entered into by the Government and the Public Sector Undertakings. Having held that the contract is a commercial contract, invocation of Article 14 is shocking to the least, and is against the trends in jurisprudence of limited interference.
Application of Proportionality Test to Contractual Clauses: Private law proceeds on the principle that that the contracting parties are best judges of their contractual arrangement and the state cannot and should not interfere in contracts, unless absolutely justified. In this case, the bidder assessed the risk associated with all clauses in the tender and submitted its bid agreeing to all the clauses therein, including the arbitration clause when a contract is entered into. Therefore, interference by the Supreme Court by applying the proportionality test on a contract clause was wrong. The Supreme Court cannot be a judge of what is essentially an economic decision: using the deposit-at-call clause as a disincentive to frivolous claims. In fact, the clause fills the gap or defect in the application of law by courts and tribunals in ordering costs in case of exaggerated or frivolous claims. Can the proportionality test which is used in constitutional contexts be applied to test the validity of a contract clause is the larger question that requires a detailed consideration. The decision has created a new Frankenstein monster akin to public policy by applying the proportionality test to examine the validity of contractual clauses.
Is the Impugned Clause a Clog on Arbitration?: The finding that the clause is a clog on arbitration does not appeal to reason. It is only a clog on an exaggerated claim in arbitration and cannot be considered a clog on arbitration. Had the clause provided, for instance, that even if the Claimant is awarded the claim, the Claimant and not the PSWSSB will bear the costs of arbitration, will probably be a clog on arbitration. The court has not really justified how it will be so.
In all, the decision is least convincing and lacks an objective and incisive analysis of the underlying justifications that the issue really called for.
The decision can be accessed from here.
Exemplary Costs? No Sir, It is Now a Right!
Exemplary costs are costs imposed by a court on a party for abuse of the court's process or for some conduct that is deprecable. These are imposed in exceptional cases where the party's conduct clearly demonstrates abuse of process or deprecable conduct.
"18. In view of the above, these special leave petitions are dismissed with exemplary costs, quantified at an aggregate amount of Rs. 20,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Lakh only). The amount towards costs be paid to the Respondent within six weeks from today."
While the eventual decision to award costs and the quantum was reasonable, branding it a "exemplary" is not in accordance with the recent amendments in the form of Section 31A where the court was obligated to award costs on the winning party. Detailed reasons may be found in this blog post and this paper. The long and short of it is that under Section 31A the losing side bears the costs is the norm and the court is obligated to grant reasons for not doing so. Considering the fee that the Supreme Court counsels charge and the likely costs incurred by the Respondent/ Award-Holder in briefing the counsels, stay, time spent,etc., the costs awarded in this case seem reasonable.
Jasmine writes about issues pertaining to public law . She teaches law at TNNLU, Trichy and some of her areas of interest are interpretation of statutes, constitutional law, and election laws.
February 12 Circular Struck Down: A Step in the Right Direction?

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