Delhi High Court blocks ₹213 crore payout by SAIL to British company over unstamped arbitral award

The Delhi High Court has blocked the release of over ₹213 crore deposited by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) towards an arbitral award in favour of British Marine PLC after finding that the award was unstamped and could not presently be enforced. [British Marine v. SAIL]

Justice Vinod Kumar held that an unstamped arbitral award is not executable and rejected British Marine's application seeking release of the balance amount deposited by SAIL.

“Unstamped Award would not be executable, therefore, the amount cannot be released to Decree Holder,” the Court said

The Court, however, clarified that British Marine could take steps to bring the original arbitral award before the High Court, pay the requisite stamp duty and, thereafter, move a fresh application for release of the money.

The case arose from an arbitral award passed in favour of British Marine, which had initiated enforcement proceedings before the Delhi High Court. SAIL had challenged the award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Pursuant to orders passed in December 2023 and February 2024, SAIL deposited ₹230.33 crore with the Registrar General of the High Court, representing 50 per cent of the decretal amount. Of this, ₹17.09 crore was subsequently released to British Marine against a bank guarantee.

SAIL's challenge to the arbitral award under Section 34 was dismissed on October 13, 2025. Its appeal under Section 37 was also dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court on September 17 this year. British Marine then sought release of the remaining ₹213.24 crore lying with the Court.

SAIL told the Court that it had filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court, though there was no stay operating against enforcement of the award. It nevertheless opposed the release on the ground that the award itself was unstamped and, therefore, could not be executed

The High Court noted that the original arbitral award was not before it. Both sides informed the Court that the original was lying in a sealed cover with the Supreme Court pursuant to directions issued in an earlier round of proceedings in 2022.

Justice Kumar observed that while an arbitral award is a chargeable instrument, a copy of the award can neither be stamped nor impounded under the Stamp Act. Since the original was unavailable, the Court said the defect could not presently be cured.

The Court consequently dismissed British Marine's application for release of ₹213.24 crore.

In a separate application, the Court discharged the ₹17.09 crore bank guarantee furnished by British Marine after noting that the corresponding amount had already been released and that SAIL's Section 34 challenge as well as its Section 37 appeal had been dismissed.

British Marine was represented by Senior Advocate Ramesh Singh along with Advocates Sumit K Batra, Anupam Dighe, Manish Khurana, Chandni, Priyanka Jindal, Ishaan Saini and Parth Sharma.

SAIL was represented by Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao along with Advocates Ajay Sabharwal, Sidhartha Sharma, Priyanka Tibrewal, Rishav Dutt, Aman Kataruka and Anirudh Pandit.

[Read Judgment]