Which orders are appealable in Arbitration

As per Section 37 of the Act, appeal lie from the following orders only:

1. Court orders-
   1. Refusing to refer the parties to arbitration under Section 8.
   2. Granting or refusing to grant any measure under Section 9.
   3. Setting aside or refusing to set aside an award under Section 34.
2. Arbitral Tribunal’s orders-
   1. Accepting plea under Section 16(2) or (3).
   2. Granting or refusing interim measure under Section 17.

Appeal lies to the Court authorised to hear appeals from the original decrees of the courts which passed the appealed order. No second appeal shall lie from an order under this section except an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Section 37 does not provide any limitation period for filing an appeal but Section 43 of the Act provides that Limitation Act shall apply to arbitrations.

In Government of Maharashtra v. Borse Brothers Engineers & Contractors Pvt. Ltd, the Supreme Court stated that if the value of the subject matter is ₹3,00,000 or more, then an appeal under Section 37 must be filed within 60 days from the date of the order as per Section 13(1A) of the Commercial Courts Act. If the value is for a sum less than ₹3,00,000 then the appeal under Section 37 would be governed by Articles 116 and 117 of the Limitation Act, which provides for a limitation period 90 days for filing an appeal.

The text of the Section 37 can be found below:

“37.   Appealable orders- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, an appeal] shall lie from the following orders (and from no others) to the Court authorised by law to hear appeals from original decrees of the Court passing the order, namely:

1. refusing to refer the parties to arbitration under section 8;
2. granting or refusing to grant any measure under section 9;
3. setting aside or refusing to set aside an arbitral award under section 34.

(2) Appeal shall also lie to a court from an order of the arbitral tribunal--

1. accepting the plea referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) of section 16; or
2. granting or refusing to grant an interim measure under section 17.

(3) No second appeal shall lie from an order passed in appeal under this section, but nothing in this section shall affect or take away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court.”