Arbitral award enforceability under section 36 turns on refusal of section 34, not exhaustion of all appeals.
An arbitral award becomes enforceable under section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 once a section 34 application is refused by the court of first instance; the statute does not require exhaustion of all appellate remedies before execution. The scheme of sections 34, 36 and 37 treats refusal of the section 34 challenge as the operative trigger for enforceability, while an appeal against that refusal is a separate remedy and does not, by itself, suspend execution. In the absence of a stay order, pendency of an appeal does not bar enforcement, and the award remained executable despite the pending appeal before the Supreme Court.
Issues: Whether an arbitral award becomes executable under section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 once an application under section 34 is refused by the court of first instance, or only after all appellate remedies, including an appeal to the Supreme Court, are exhausted.
Analysis: Section 36 provides that an award is enforceable when the time for making an application under section 34 has expired, or where such application having been made has been refused. The expression used is the refusal of the section 34 application, and the statutory text does not say that the refusal must be final after appeal. The scheme of sections 34, 36 and 37 shows that the refusal contemplated is the refusal by the court before which the section 34 application is made, while section 37 separately provides an appeal against that refusal. The pendency of an appeal does not, by itself, suspend execution, and an appellate remedy is not equivalent in all respects to a stay of the original adjudication. The object of arbitration is speedy resolution, and execution cannot be postponed until every challenge is exhausted in the absence of a stay order.
Conclusion: The award was executable despite pendency of the appeal before the Supreme Court, and the objection to execution was rejected.
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