Supreme Court Appoints Sole Arbitrator to Resolve Decade-Long Dispute Between Godavari Bio Refineries and CSIR.


26 September 2025 Arbitration Law >> Business & Commercial Law  

On September 26, 2025, the Supreme Court of India, headed by Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan, resolved a long-standing arbitration case in Godavari Bio Refineries Limited (GBL) v. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) by Miscellaneous Application No. 1738/2025 in SLP(C) No. 28097/2019. The Court appointed a single arbitrator to settle the continuous strife, which was a major milestone toward the end of a case that had been pending for more than ten years.

The conflict arose from an order of the Delhi High Court on November 1, 2019, in Arbitration Petition No. 178/2019, wherein CSIR had made an application under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, for appointment of an arbitral tribunal. The High Court ordered the establishment of a three-member arbitral tribunal from a Monitoring Committee under Clause 15 of the contract between GBL and CSIR to decide the case. It reserved to be determined by the tribunal whether CSIR's claims were time-barred.


 

 
 
 

GBL, through Advocates Sameer Parekh, Sumit Goel, Sonal Gupta, and M/s. Parekh & Co. (Advocate-on-Record), assailed the High Court order by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP(C) No. 28097/2019) with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court on December 13, 2019, issued a notice and suspended the High Court's direction upon condition that GBL paid Rs. 1 crore within four weeks. The suspension of the High Court's direction would automatically go if the deposit was not made. But the SLP was rejected on November 26, 2021, as per Article 136 of the Constitution, with the High Court's order remaining in place.

Notwithstanding the rejection, arbitration did not materialize as CSIR had appointed three arbitrators who later refused to perform. This left the disputes pending, and hence the present miscellaneous application was filed by GBL for a refund of the Rs. 1 crore paid into the Registry of the Supreme Court, with interest incurred. GBL's lawyer, Mr. Parekh, was ready to submit the whole dispute to arbitration, but pointed out CSIR's failure to respond. CSIR was represented by Advocate-on-Record Praveen Swarup, and Advocates Rohit Swarup, Ravi Kumar, Sukhamrit Singh, Devesh Maurya, and Mohd. Umar Iqbal Khan.

Showing concern with the extensive delay, the Supreme Court appointed Advocate Rohan Thawani as the sole arbitrator, with mutual consent of both parties, to settle the dispute. The Court ordered that the fee of the arbitrator be settled by consultation with GBL and CSIR. It also allowed the two sides to file all legally permissible contentions, including the problem of the Rs. 1 crore deposit, which will be resolved by the arbitrator through a proper order. The Court encouraged speedy resolution, dismissing the miscellaneous application and all pending applications.

This decision is indicative of the judiciary's efforts to make arbitration processes simpler and dispute settlement faster, especially in cases held up by procedural delays.


Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996