Arbitrator's award upheld

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of Steel Authority of India Ltd against the ruling of the Punjab and Haryana HC upholding the arbitrator’s award in favour of Gupta Brother Steel Tubes Ltd. The PSU had challenged the award in various courts over 10 years. The SC, dismissing the final appeal, stated the award was proper and the court could not go into it all over again. “The legal position is no more in doubt the arbitrator having been the final arbiter of resolution of disputes, the award is not open to challenge... The courts do not interfere with the conclusion of an arbitrator if it is a possible view of the matter,” the judgement said.

IPR cases to be dealt with in four months

The SC has asked courts and tribunals to decide all matters related to infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) within four months. This order was passed last week in the patent dispute between Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor over Flame bike. The court observed cases regarding patents, trademarks and copyrights are pending for years. “This is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs... We direct that the directions be carried out by all the courts and tribunals in this country punctually and faithfully,” it said.

Railways can go ahead with tendering process

The SC last week allowed the Railways to go ahead with the tendering process for allotment of “minor units” catering contracts in nearly 8,000 stations. The court imposed a condition the contracts allotted would be subject to the outcome of a batch of appeals challenging the policy. A number of aggrieved contractors challenged the tendering process on the ground the Railways cannot have a reservation policy, that too exceeding 50 per cent.

Insured need not volunteer information more than demanded

The National Consumer Commission has declared that a person buying a life insurance policy is not bound to volunteer information more than what was demanded in the proposal form.

In this case, Daya Rani vs Life Insurance Corporation, one Gulab Singh took three life policies . After some time, he was murdered. His legal representatives claimed the insured amount but the corporation denied it on the ground that Singh had suppressed the fact that he was involved in certain criminal cases. The claim was rejected by the state consumer commission. On appeal, the national commission set aside the state commission’s view. “We are constrained to observe that if the insurer has limited the amount of disclosure, i.e., limited to the reply to the question in the proposal form, nothing should be expected from the insured, to give voluntarily information which is not sought for by the insurer. The questions in the proposal form, i.e., the contract between the parties, would indicate the limitation of the field within which the disclosure by the ‘proposer’ is required by the insurance company,” the judgment said.

The National Consumer Commission has dismissed the appeal of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Ltd and ordered it to compensate a food grain merchant, Môs Gondamal Hardyal Mal, whose stocks were damaged in storm and heavy rains. When the claim was made, the argument of the insurer was that according to the surveyor’s report, the loss was not caused due to the flow of water from the floor of the godown, but water had entered from the holes of roof of godown, which is made of iron sheets. Therefore, the risk was not covered by the terms of the policy which took care of only flood and inundation. Rejecting this contention, the commission emphasised that earlier rulings and according to the Oxford Concise Dictionary, ‘Flood’ also means, “….An outpouring of water…” and therefore the risk was covered in this case.