Stamping of Substantive Agreement: Better Late Than Never
31/May/2021, 9:13 AM, Authored by Hiroo Advani, Tariq Khan & Mahi Mehta
Nearly after a decade the Indian arbitration regime has come in consonance with the western world and settled the long due controversy on stamping of arbitration agreement. A Bench comprising of Dr Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Indira Banerjee in N.N. Global Mercantile (P) Ltd. v. Indo Unique Flame Ltd.[1] has held that since the arbitration agreement is an independent agreement between the parties, and is not chargeable to payment of stamp duty, the non-payment of stamp duty on the commercial contract, would not invalidate the arbitration clause, or render it unenforceable, since it has an independent existence of its own.