Mandatory pre-filing notice under Section 34(5) applies to award challenges despite earlier arbitral commencement.

An application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was treated as non-maintainable because the pre-filing notice requirement in Section 34(5) was mandatory. Although the arbitral proceedings had commenced before the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015, Section 26 preserved earlier proceedings only subject to the parties' agreement, and the contract contemplated application of the Act as modified by statutory amendment. The Court therefore held that Section 34(5) continued to apply and could not be disregarded, with the result that the challenge to the award failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether an application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was maintainable without prior notice under Section 34(5); and whether Section 34(5), inserted by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015, applied to arbitral proceedings that had commenced before the amendment came into force.

Analysis: Section 26 of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 preserves arbitral proceedings commenced under Section 21 of the principal Act before the commencement of the amendment Act, unless the parties otherwise agree. The arbitration had commenced before 23.10.2015, but the contract also contemplated application of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and any statutory modification thereof. The Court held that, in light of Section 26 and the mandatory character of the word "only" in Section 34(5), the pre-filing notice requirement could not be ignored.

Conclusion: The application under Section 34 was not maintainable for non-compliance with Section 34(5), and the challenge to the award failed.

---