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9 November 2021 | Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju v. Pusapati Madhuri Gajapathi Raju | Civil Appeal No. 6657 of 2021 and Civil Appeal Nos. 6659-6660 of 2021 | L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai JJ | Supreme Court of India | 2021 SCC OnLine SC 1030
The Supreme Court has upheld the appellate court’s part intervention of an interim award because it agreed with the appellate court that the arbitrator had gone beyond the terms of reference. The matter is an old and legacy dispute concerning division of the property of the estate of Vizianagaram.
Relevant to this highlight, one of the terms of the reference was to determine if 99 diamonds and an emerald ring were the streedhan of the respondent Madhuri. If it was not, all the seven parties to the dispute were entitled to 1/7th share equally.
The arbitrator determined that they were the streedhan of Madhuri but went to on to determine the ownership. The set aside court dismissed the challenge, but the appellate court set aside the relevant portion of the award saying that there was a jurisdictional error. The Supreme Court agreed with the view.
Read the judgment here.