Gamut Of Section 48 Of The Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 : A Case Study

PREFACE

The New York Convention of 1958 to which India is a signatory, specifies that an Arbitral Judgment might inter alia be refused enforcement if it is in disagreement with the public policy of the country where enforcement is sought. Interestingly, the phrase 'public policy' is not defined in the New York Convention which means that the phrase will be interpreted by each country's own public policy criteria. In the past, India has struggled to harmonize its public policy definition and standard with international standards.

LAW ON PUBLIC POLICY

In the landmark case of Renusagar Power Co. Limited v. General Electric Company (Renusagar)¹, the Supreme Court declared that simply breaking Indian laws would not be enough to trigger the public policy threshold. The Supreme Court ruled that the term "public policy" as prescribed by Section 48 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act), does not include the ground of "Patent illegality". The court further