india

Updated: Jan 09, 2019 23:56 IST

The Delhi High Court Wednesday agreed to examine a plea by the Centre seeking to restrain AgustaWestland from continuing with the arbitration process initiated by it in the wake of scrapping of contracts for supply of 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“The mandate of the Arbitral Tribunal, constituted under the agreement dated February 8, 2010, in the present case, does not stand terminated,” Justice Pratibha Singh said while hearing a plea by the Centre seeking permanent injunction on the arbitral proceedings initiated for the cancellation of the contract.

The court sought the response of the Anglo-Italian firm while stating that the “question as to whether the arbitration agreement stands nullified in the present case, owing to the allegations that there are allegations of corruption and fraud, cannot be rejected at this stage”.

In its interim order, the single-judge bench stated that it cannot go into the merits of the case as it had not seen any of the orders passed by the tribunal.

Justice Singh asked AgustaWestland to reply to the petition within three weeks. The matter would be now heard on February 28.