Can You Appeal Against an Arbitration Order Under Section 37?

What is a Section 37 appeal, and why is it so narrow?

Inside the Act there's exactly one appeal provision, and that's Section 37. It covers the orders it names and nothing else. Section 5 explains the attitude behind it. In matters governed by Part I, no judicial authority shall intervene except where Part I itself provides. Whether the order is wrong or harsh doesn't decide anything. What decides it is whether the order is in Section 37. If it isn't, the Act gives you no appeal. However bad the mistake looks.

Parliament did this on purpose. Arbitration is supposed to finish disputes with as little court time as possible, and every extra appeal would add years. The Supreme Court has held parties strictly to the list. In Kandla Export Corporation v. OCI Corporation (2018), it ruled that Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act doesn't create any wider right of appeal in arbitration matters. An appeal lies only against the orders Section 37 lists. Section 37(3) then adds that no second appeal lies from an order passed in such an appeal, though you can still approach the Supreme Court.

In practice a Section 37 appeal has to clear two filters. Is the order on the list? And even if it is, will the appeal court interfere, given how little room it has? We take both in turn below.

Which arbitration orders can you appeal under Section 37?

Which orders can't be appealed under Section 37?

Plenty of the orders people feel strongest about aren't on the list. Take an order of the High Court or the Supreme Court appointing an arbitrator under Section 11. It's final under Section 11(7). No appeal, and no Letters Patent appeal either. Against a High Court order, the only further step is a special leave petition to the Supreme Court. Our guide on asking the court to appoint an arbitrator under Section 11 explains why the referral court's role has become so narrow.

Say the tribunal rejects your objection that it has no jurisdiction. Section 16(5) and (6) tell it to carry on and make the award. Your remedy is to raise the point in a Section 34 petition against that award. A failed challenge to an arbitrator's independence works the same way. Under Section 13(4) and (5) the tribunal continues, and your objection is kept alive for Section 34. That's why our note on objecting to an arbitrator who isn't independent keeps saying put every objection on record in writing.

The list of things you can't appeal goes on. A Section 8 order that does send you to arbitration. A Section 29A order extending the arbitrator's mandate, or declining to. The tribunal's day-to-day directions on documents, witnesses and adjournments. If a court returns your Section 34 petition because it thinks it lacks jurisdiction, that's not appealable either, since BGS SGS Soma JV v. NHPC (2019) treats such a return as something other than setting aside, or refusing to set aside, an award. And when a tribunal terminates the proceedings, Section 37 doesn't help. The Supreme Court in Harshbir Singh Pannu v. Jaswinder Singh (December 2025) acknowledged that remedies against termination orders are unclear, and it suggested Parliament should provide a statutory appeal.

Appealable or not: a quick map of arbitration orders

Can you appeal against the arbitral award itself?

No. People search for an appeal against an arbitral award all the time, but the Act doesn't give one. You challenge the award only by applying to set it aside under Section 34, on limited grounds, within three months plus a possible 30 days. The appeal under Section 37(1)(c) is against the court's decision on that application. It isn't against the arbitrator's award. Our guide on challenging an arbitral award under Section 34 covers that first step.

Could you agree to a second round inside arbitration? Some institutional rules let parties set that up by contract. Indian statute law, though, offers no appeal from one tribunal to another today. In October 2024 the government released a draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill for consultation, and one idea in it was an optional appellate arbitral tribunal. By mid-2026 Parliament still hadn't passed it. So it's a proposal, nothing more. Check the current position before relying on it.

Which court hears the appeal in Delhi, UP and Haryana?

Start with the text. Under Section 37(1), the appeal goes to the court that the law authorises to hear appeals from original decrees of whichever court made the order. Commercial disputes of specified value add a layer. For those, Section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 routes the appeal to the Commercial Appellate Court or, as the case may be, the High Court's Commercial Appellate Division.

Take Delhi first. Suppose the District Judge (Commercial Court) at Saket, Tis Hazari or Karkardooma decided your Section 34 or Section 9 petition. Your appeal lies to the Delhi High Court's Commercial Appellate Division, and the registry will usually number it as an FAO (COMM). If a single judge sitting in the Commercial Division made the order on the original side, a Division Bench hears it instead, as an FAO (OS) (COMM). Tribunal orders appealable under Section 37(2) go to whichever court Section 2(1)(e) points to, and in Delhi that turns on the claim's value. At present the district courts take matters up to Rs 2 crore. In July 2026 the Full Court recommended raising that to Rs 10 crore. Check where the limit stands on the day you file.

Outside Delhi, the High Court changes. A district Commercial Court order from a Noida or Ghaziabad seat, or anywhere else in UP, is appealed to the Allahabad High Court's Commercial Appellate Division. Gurugram and Faridabad matters go up to the Commercial Appellate Division of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which sits in Chandigarh. For filing practice in those benches, see our sister site's guide on appealing to the Commercial Appellate Division.

How long do you have to file a Section 37 appeal?

For a commercial dispute, you have 60 days. Section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act fixes that, counting from the order or judgment, and Government of Maharashtra v. Borse Brothers Engineers and Contractors (2021) put the question beyond argument. Not every arbitration is a commercial dispute of specified value, though. For those, go by the Limitation Act. An appeal from a subordinate court to the High Court gets 90 days under Article 116. An intra-court appeal, from a single judge to a Division Bench, gets 30 days under Article 117.

Delay in these appeals can be condoned under Section 5 of the Limitation Act. That's different from the hard bar in Section 34(3). But Borse Brothers made it plain that condonation is the exception. If you were careless or just slow, don't expect the court to excuse it. A government department blaming internal file movement should expect even less. Time spent getting a certified copy of the order is excluded under Section 12 of the Limitation Act. So apply for it the same day the order is pronounced.

Appeals against Section 9 or Section 17 interim orders are urgent by their nature. Wait fifty-nine days to challenge an interim injunction, and the appeal court may well decide the matter wasn't urgent at all. Our general note on limitation in arbitration claims covers the Act's other time limits.

How far will the appeal court interfere?

Not far. In MMTC Ltd v. Vedanta Ltd (2019), the Supreme Court held that a court hearing an appeal against a Section 34 decision can't go beyond the limits of Section 34 itself. All it checks is whether the Section 34 court used its power within those limits. Where the Section 34 court has upheld an award, the appeal court has to be extremely careful before disturbing it. The Supreme Court said it again in Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation v. Sanman Rice Mills (2024). The appellate court can't reappreciate evidence. Nor can it set aside an award simply because it prefers a different view.

Your best chance, then, is a legal error by the Section 34 court itself. Three kinds come up. It went into the merits when it had no business doing so. Or it brushed aside a ground squarely within Section 34. Or it modified the award further than the 2025 Constitution Bench ruling permits. Those modification limits are explained in our note on whether a court can modify an arbitral award, and the appeal court is bound by them too.

For appeals against interim orders under Section 9 or Section 17, the appeal court follows the familiar rule from Wander Ltd v. Antox India (1990). It won't put its own discretion in place of the lower court's or tribunal's unless the order was arbitrary, perverse, or ignored settled principles. If all your appeal says is that the balance of convenience should have been weighed differently, it rarely gets anywhere.

Filing a Section 37 appeal, step by step

The broad order of things is the same across Delhi NCR courts. Each High Court has its own rules on paper books and listing, though.

1. Make sure the order is appealable

   Hold the order up against the list in Section 37(1) and 37(2). If it isn't there, stop and look at the alternatives further down. An appeal against a non-appealable order gets dismissed as not maintainable, and the time you lose may not come back.

2. Apply for the certified copy straight away

   Apply the day the order is pronounced or uploaded. The time taken to get it is excluded from limitation. But only from the date you applied.

3. Work out the deadline

   Count 60 days for commercial disputes, or the Limitation Act period otherwise, from the date of the order, and add the certified copy time. Work to the earlier date. Never the later one.

4. Draft the memorandum of appeal

   Set out the grounds precisely, showing how the court or tribunal below went beyond its power or got the law wrong. Include a list of dates, the impugned order, the award or interim order, and the relevant record.

5. File the stay or interim application

   If the order under appeal is being acted on, file for a stay or interim protection along with the appeal. Say what security or deposit you can offer.

6. Serve the other side and attend admission

   The appeal is listed for admission. The court may issue notice, dismiss it at the threshold, or decide it finally at an early stage if the point is narrow.

7. Argue on the record

   Hearings run on the record of the court below. Fresh evidence is rarely allowed. Keep your submissions short and tied to the pages of the paper book.

If you're appealing a Section 34 decision that set aside your award, ask the appeal court to keep any deposit made by the other side where it is until the appeal is decided. Money already secured shouldn't walk out of the court while you're still fighting.

Papers you'll need for the appeal

• Certified copy of the order or judgment you're appealing, showing the date you applied for it
• The arbitral award, or the tribunal's Section 17 interim order
• The Section 34 or Section 9 petition, with the reply and rejoinder filed below
• Both sides' written submissions in the court below
• The parts of the arbitral record you rely on, with page numbers
• Any order on deposit, stay or security from the court below
• The arbitration agreement and the contract itself
• Vakalatnama, plus the authority of whoever is signing the appeal
• If you're late, an affidavit explaining the delay

Time and cost of an arbitration appeal

Does filing the appeal stop the order from operating?

No. Not on its own. An appeal isn't a stay. If the Section 34 court dismissed your petition, the award becomes enforceable, and the award holder can file for execution unless the appeal court stays it. Courts hearing these appeals generally expect the appellant to keep the award amount secured. Often that means continuing a deposit already made in the Section 34 court, or a fresh deposit or bank guarantee. We've covered the enforcement side in how an arbitral award is enforced in India.

Where the Section 34 court set aside the award, the award holder appealing under Section 37 usually asks for any deposit already in court to stay put. If the appeal is against an interim order, say a refused injunction, the appellant asks for ad interim protection until the hearing. Frankly, that application often matters more than the appeal. By the time the appeal is finally heard, the arbitration may have moved on without you.

Can you go to the Supreme Court after the High Court decides the appeal?

There's no second appeal, because Section 37(3) rules it out. What the same sub-section saves is your right to go to the Supreme Court. In practice that's a special leave petition under Article 136 of the Constitution, filed through an Advocate-on-Record, ordinarily within 90 days of the High Court's judgment. Leave is the court's discretion. A big number on the award won't get you in. The judges look for a question of law of real importance, or an error so clear that it causes serious injustice. Our sister site has a guide to commercial appeals in the Supreme Court covering each filing stage.

A High Court's Section 11 appointment order has no appeal at all, so the special leave petition is the only route against it. Parties use it less now. The Supreme Court has confined the referral court to a prima facie check of whether an arbitration agreement exists, and there's not much left to fight over.

What if the order you dislike isn't appealable?

Most of the time, you live with it until the award comes, then take the point in your Section 34 petition. That's slow, and deliberately so. A few parties try their luck with a writ under Article 226 or 227 of the Constitution, aimed at the tribunal's order or the court's. The Supreme Court has discouraged this firmly, in Deep Industries v. ONGC (2019) and again in Bhaven Construction v. Executive Engineer, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam (2021). Writs should be entertained only in exceptional cases. Think of a party left with no remedy whatsoever, or plain bad faith, or a tribunal patently lacking inherent jurisdiction. Most of these writs don't survive the first hearing.

Clients sometimes bring Advocate B.K. Singh a procedural order of the tribunal, say a refusal to let them call an extra witness. His usual advice is practical. File a short written objection before the tribunal that same week, explaining how the order hurts your ability to present your case, and keep it ready for Section 34(2)(a)(iii). It costs very little. It won't put the arbitrator's back up. And it keeps the point alive in the one forum that will actually hear it.

Mistakes we see in arbitration appeals

• Appealing an order that isn't on the list. Appeals against Section 11 appointments, Section 16 rejections or procedural orders get thrown out as not maintainable. All that drafting, wasted.
• Counting 90 days in a commercial matter. Since Borse Brothers, commercial disputes get 60 days. Go by the older Limitation Act period and you've lost the appeal.
• Arguing the facts all over again. If your appeal just repeats the evidence you put before the arbitrator, you'll hear the same answer twice. Neither the Section 34 court nor the Section 37 court reappreciates evidence.
• Forgetting about a stay. You file the appeal, don't press for interim protection, and the award holder goes ahead and executes in the meantime.
• Sitting on an interim order. An appeal against a refused urgent injunction, filed weeks later, undercuts the very urgency it's built on.

What to do this week if an order has gone against you

Today, apply for the certified copy. Then compare the order with the Section 37 list and diary the last date (in a commercial matter, 60 days from the order). If it isn't appealable, write down where the point can be taken later, and file an objection before the tribunal so it's on record. If it is, make a quick, honest call on whether the order contains a legal error or just a view of the facts you dislike. Appeals of the second kind rarely succeed. And if it's an interim order you're up against, read our note on Section 9 petitions for urgent interim relief.

If you'd like the order and the record read before your appeal deadline runs out, or want to hear about changes in arbitration appeal law, you can reach Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.