Can Appointment Of An Arbitrator Be Challenged Post The Passing Of Final Award?

Sections 12 – 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘the Act') deal with challenge of the composition and jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has passed some landmark cases on appointment and challenge of arbitrators which lay down the jurisprudence on the issue, like TRF Ltd. v. Energo Engineering Projects Ltd.¹ (‘TRF Ltd.'), Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. v. United Telecoms Ltd.² (‘BBNL'), Perkins Eastman Architects DPC v. HSCC (India) Ltd.³ (‘Perkins Eastman') among others.  These cases have held that a person is ineligible to act as an arbitrator if he was unilaterally appointed by a person who himself was ineligible to act as an arbitrator.