Section 59 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 - Appealable Orders

Section 59 forms part of Part II, Chapter II of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which deals with Geneva Convention Awards. It specifies the limited orders from which an appeal lies under Chapter II and also bars a second appeal while preserving any right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Text of Section 59 - Appealable orders

Meaning and scope of Section 59

Section 59 creates a specific appellate remedy within the Geneva Convention Awards regime. It does not provide a general appeal against every order made under Part II, Chapter II. The statutory language identifies two particular categories of refusal orders from which an appeal lies.

Appeal from refusal to refer parties under Section 54

Section 54 deals with the power of a judicial authority to refer parties to arbitration in a dispute concerning a contract between persons to whom Section 53 applies, where the statutory requirements concerning the arbitration agreement are satisfied.

Section 59(1)(a) provides an appeal where the judicial authority refuses to refer the parties to arbitration under Section 54.

Appeal from refusal to enforce a foreign award under Section 57

Section 57 sets out the conditions that must be satisfied before a Geneva Convention foreign award can be enforced in India, together with the circumstances in which enforcement must or may be refused.

Section 59(1)(b) provides an appeal where the Court refuses to enforce a foreign award under Section 57.

Which court hears an appeal under Section 59?

Section 59 states that the appeal lies to the court authorised by law to hear appeals from the relevant refusal order. The identity of the appellate forum therefore depends on the court or judicial authority that passed the order and the applicable law governing appeals from that order.

The Explanation to Section 56 defines "Court" for Section 56 and the following sections of Chapter II by reference to the appropriate High Court. That definition is relevant to the Chapter II enforcement framework, while Section 59 itself directs the appeal to the court authorised by law to hear appeals from the particular order.

No second appeal under Section 59(2)

Section 59(2) expressly provides that no second appeal shall lie from an order passed in an appeal under Section 59. This limits the statutory appellate chain after the first appeal provided by Section 59.

The bar applies to a second appeal from an order passed in the Section 59 appeal. It should be read together with the final part of Section 59(2), which separately preserves any right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Right to appeal to the Supreme Court

The closing words of Section 59(2) state that nothing in Section 59 affects or takes away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court. The provision therefore does not extinguish a Supreme Court remedy that is otherwise available under the applicable constitutional or statutory framework.

Whether a particular proceeding before the Supreme Court is maintainable depends on the nature of the order, the applicable law, and the procedural route invoked. Section 59 itself preserves the right but does not create a general second appeal.

Section 59 and Section 58 - refusal versus enforcement

Section 58 provides that where the Court is satisfied that a foreign award is enforceable under Chapter II, the award is deemed to be a decree of the Court.

Section 59(1)(b), by contrast, expressly speaks of an appeal from an order refusing to enforce a foreign award under Section 57. The statutory appellate language should therefore be read according to the specific orders identified in Section 59.

Related provisions

Section 59 should be read with Section 53 - Interpretation, Section 54 - Referral to arbitration, Section 55 - Foreign awards when binding, Section 56 - Evidence, Section 57 - Conditions for enforcement, Section 58 - Enforcement, and Section 60 - Savings.