Herbert Smith Freehills review a decision dated 7 May 2018, where the Delhi High Court dismissed the Government of India’s application to declare Vodafone’s second BIT arbitration proceedings in relation to the retrospective tax liability imposed on Vodafone’s 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian operations an abuse of process, and in so doing declined to grant a permanent injunction. The authors observe that the decision is an interesting and positive one underlining a continuing trend of pro-arbitration outcomes from the senior Indian courts and that in declining to decide the issue of abuse of process and passing that decision to the relevant arbitral tribunal, the Delhi court has affirmed its support for the kompetenz-kompetenz principle in international arbitration, and resisted the invitation to place its judgment before that of the tribunal.
Indian Court Refuses Injunction Restraining Vodafone’s Second BIT Arbitration Against India
