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Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited vs. National Institute of Electronic and Information Technology

Enforcement Petition (Commercial Arbitration) · CNR No. DLHC010017892020Decided 21 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 3/2021CNR: DLHC010017892020
Justice Om Prakash Shukla

Background

The decree-holder sought to enforce an arbitral award against the judgment-debtor (a government electronics/IT institute), but it emerged that the underlying arbitral award had not been stamped with adequate stamp duty as required by law.

Decision Breakdown

Since insufficient stamp duty is a technical bar to enforcing an arbitral award, the decree-holder's counsel himself sought permission to withdraw the execution petition, with liberty to re-file once the proper stamp duty is paid. The Court granted this leave and dismissed the petition as withdrawn (not on the merits).

Lesson Learnt

An arbitral award, like other legal instruments, must bear the correct stamp duty before it can be enforced through court execution proceedings: a procedural requirement that can otherwise stall enforcement even where the underlying claim is not in dispute.

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