Delhi High Court Imposes ₹1 Lakh Costs for Repetitive Execution-Stage Objection to Arbitral Award

The Delhi High Court imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on a judgment debtor for raising a baseless and repeated objection during execution of an arbitral award, holding that the attempt amounted to an abuse of process and was hit by res judicata.

The case arose from execution proceedings concerning an arbitral award, which had already been affirmed under Sections 16, 34 and 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and by the Supreme Court.

The Court directed payment of the costs within two weeks, with ₹50,000 to the decree holder and ₹50,000 to the Delhi High Court Bar Association.

[Avneet Soni v. Kavita Agarwal]