Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corp. Ltd vs Brandavan Food Products; 2025 INSC 1294 - S.34 Arbitration Act - Rewriting Contract
Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 - Section 34 -Rewriting a contract for the parties would be a breach of the fundamental principles of justice, entitling a Court to interfere as it would shock its conscience and would fall within the exceptional category. (Para 65) [Context: SC set aside an award observing that Arbitrator completely overlooked the weightage to be given to the policy decisions embodied in the Railway Board’s circulars and compounded the error by contrarily interpreting the contractual terms, which were strictly in consonance therewith]
Case Info
Case Details
- Case name: Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corp. Ltd vs M/s Brandavan Food Products.
- Neutral citation: 2025 INSC 1294.
- Coram: Justice Sanjay Kumar; Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
- Judgment date: November 07, 2025 (New Delhi).
Statutes / Laws Referred
- Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996: Sections 28(1)(a), 28(2), 28(3), 31(7), 33, 34(1), 34(2), 34(2A), 37.
- Limitation Act, 1963: Section 14(2).
- Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Section 65(g).
- Indian Contract Act, 1872 (in context of public policy/contract terms).
Caselaws and Citations
- Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. v. NHAI, (2019) 15 SCC 131.
- PSA Sical Terminals (P) Ltd. v. Board of Trustees of V.O. Chidambranar Port Trust, Tuticorin, (2023) 15 SCC 781.
- State of Chhattisgarh v. SAL Udyog (P) Ltd., (2022) 2 SCC 275.
- Associate Builders v. Delhi Development Authority, (2015) 3 SCC 49.
- Industrial Promotion & Investment Corp. of Orissa Ltd. v. Tuobro Furguson Steels (P) Ltd., (2012) 2 SCC 261.
#SupremeCourt reiterates that rewriting a contract by Arbitrator for the parties would be a breach of the fundamental principles of justice to invoke Section 34 Arbitration Act powers to set aside Arbitration Award. https://t.co/AT2qzS6yFe pic.twitter.com/Y7xrn9VYNS
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) November 7, 2025
