Functus Officio After Conditional Final Award

In York International Pte Ltd v Voltas Ltd [2022] SGHC 153, the High Court held that an arbitrator was functus officio after a conditional final award had been rendered by the said arbitrator in 2014.

The facts. This case concerned the plaintiff's application under s 21(9) of the Arbitration Act (Cap 10, 2002 Rev Ed) (the “AA”) for the court to decide that the sole arbitrator (the “Arbitrator”) in Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”) Arbitration No 61 of 2012 (the “Arbitration”) did not have jurisdiction to issue a further award in the Arbitration, following the Arbitrator's ruling as a preliminary question that he has jurisdiction to do so (at [2]).

This centred on whether the award issued by the Arbitrator in 2014, titled “Final Award” (the “2014 Award”), resolved all the issues in the Arbitration, such that the Arbitrator became functus officio, and therefore no longer retained jurisdiction to issue any further award.