Binding Supreme Court directions require expeditious disposal of a pending Section 8 arbitration application without examining merits.

Supreme Court directions are binding under Article 141, and a pending Section 8 application under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act should be taken up expeditiously by the National Company Law Tribunal. The Appellate Tribunal directed day-to-day hearing, no adjournments, and disposal within the stipulated time to ensure compliance and avoid prejudice to either side. It also made clear that the appellate forum would not examine the merits of the dispute, leaving all factual and legal contentions to be urged before the Tribunal.

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Issues: Whether the pending application under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 should be taken up and decided expeditiously in light of the Supreme Court's directions, without the Appellate Tribunal entering into the merits of the dispute.

Analysis: The Appellate Tribunal treated the Supreme Court's earlier order as binding under Article 141 of the Constitution of India. It noted that the Section 8 application remained pending before the National Company Law Tribunal and that the parties should be given an opportunity to urge all factual and legal contentions before that forum. In order to secure compliance with the Supreme Court's direction and to avoid prejudice to either side, the Appellate Tribunal directed the National Company Law Tribunal to take up the application on a day-to-day basis from the specified date, avoid adjournments, and dispose of it within the stipulated time. It expressly refrained from examining the merits of the controversy.

Conclusion: The pending application was directed to be heard and decided expeditiously by the National Company Law Tribunal, and the Appellate Tribunal declined to adjudicate the merits itself.

Ratio Decidendi: Directions of the Supreme Court are binding under Article 141, and where a statutory application is pending, the appellate forum may require expeditious disposal by the adjudicating authority without deciding the substantive merits.

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