You have received an adverse arbitral award. The window to act is strictly limited to three months. This is not an appeal on the merits — but specific grounds exist, and they must be argued precisely.
Quick Summary
Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides the exclusive grounds on which a domestic arbitral award may be set aside by a court. The grounds are narrow and exhaustive: incapacity of a party, invalid arbitration agreement, lack of notice, award beyond scope, improper composition of tribunal, non-arbitrability, or conflict with public policy of India. The 2015 Amendment confined "public policy" to fraud, corruption, fundamental policy of Indian law, or basic notions of morality and justice. Patent illegality — an additional ground for purely domestic awards — applies only where the illegality goes to the root of the matter.
A Section 34 petition must be filed within 3 months of receipt of the award (extendable by 30 days for sufficient cause — not beyond). Filing a Section 34 petition does not automatically stay enforcement — the court must pass a separate order under Section 36. The Kerala High Court hears Section 34 applications for arbitrations seated in Kerala.
Key references: Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 · Kerala High Court · Supreme Court · Ministry of Law & Justice · Last reviewed: June 2026
The office is located in Kakkanad, Ernakulam. Applications under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for setting aside arbitral awards are filed before the District/Commercial Court in the district, as applicable. The practice handles arbitration matters before the competent courts in Ernakulam and across Kerala, including award challenges, enforcement-related proceedings, and appeals arising from arbitration matters.
Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is the primary mechanism for challenging a domestic arbitral award in India. It is available in the High Court where the seat of arbitration is located — for Kerala-seated arbitrations, this is the Kerala High Court.
Section 34 is not an appeal. The court does not re-examine the evidence, reconsider the factual findings, or substitute its own view of the law for the Tribunal's. The Arbitral Tribunal is the final arbiter of fact. The court's role is supervisory, not appellate. This is a fundamental principle of arbitration law — parties who agree to arbitrate accept a final decision on the merits by the Tribunal.
Section 34(2) provides an exhaustive list of grounds. No ground outside this list can be used to challenge an award.
A party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity at the time of contracting — a minor, a person of unsound mind, or a legally incompetent entity.
The agreement is not valid under the law to which it is subject, or under Indian law where no applicable law is specified.
A party was not given proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings, or was otherwise unable to present its case.
The award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement.
The composition of the Tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the arbitration agreement, or in the absence of such agreement, with the Arbitration Act.
The award is in conflict with the public policy of India — interpreted narrowly post-2015 to include fraud, corruption, contravention of fundamental policy of Indian law, or conflict with basic morality or justice.
For purely domestic arbitrations, an award may be set aside for patent illegality appearing on the face of the award — but not merely because the arbitrator construed a contract in a manner the court would not have adopted.
Filing a Section 34 application does not automatically stay enforcement. Under Section 36, the court must be separately petitioned for a stay order, which is discretionary. The court typically requires the challenging party to either deposit the award amount or provide security, as a condition for staying enforcement.
An order setting aside or refusing to set aside an award under Section 34 is appealable under Section 37 to a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court. The grounds on appeal remain the same supervisory grounds — not a re-examination of merits.
The three-month limitation under Section 34 is strict and begins from the date of receipt of the signed award. Early legal assessment is essential to determine whether valid grounds exist and whether a stay should be sought simultaneously. The office responds within one working day.
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