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M/s Bhagheeratha Engineering Ltd. v. State of Kerala

Not available · 2026 INSC 4Decided 5 Jan 2026
Not available
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice K.V. Viswanathan

Background

A road-maintenance contractor's payment dispute went through a contractual Adjudicator, then arbitration. Kerala's courts set aside the arbitrator's full award, holding the contractor never issued formal notice under Section 21 of the Arbitration Act covering all four disputes.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reinstated the arbitrator's award, holding the State could not benefit from its own default (missing deadlines, disputing the Adjudicator's decision broadly), and that Section 21 notice mainly fixes the limitation start date. It isn't a jurisdictional gatekeeper capping which disputes can later be argued under a broadly-worded arbitration clause.

Lesson Learnt

A Section 21 arbitration notice is mainly a limitation-fixing formality, not a jurisdictional gatekeeper; a party cannot behave inconsistently and then invoke procedural technicalities to block a genuine claim.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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