In National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd. v. Ishvakoo (India) Pvt. Ltd. the Supreme Court held that an unsuccessful party in arbitration is not, merely by reason of having lost the arbitration, precluded from invoking Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 at the post-award stage. The Court clarified that such relief is not available as a matter of course. In rare and compelling cases, an award debtor may invoke Section 9 to preserve the existing position or prevent the interim protection from being rendered ineffective, but the threshold for granting relief is higher than in an application filed by the successful party seeking to secure the fruits of the award. The Court’s reasoning assumes particular significance in light of Gayatri Balasamy v. ISG Novasoft Technologies Ltd., which recognised the Court’s limited power to modify an arbitral award while exercising jurisdiction under Section 34. To obtain the said relief the applicant will have to establish the essential ingredients of prima facie case, balance of convenience, and likelihood of irreparable harm.
