Arbitral Award -- Deposit of Awarded Amount Not Unconditional -- Deposit does not equate to payment unless unconditional and available for withdrawal by award-holder
(i) Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, S.36 -- Arbitral Award -- Enforcement as Decree -- Section 36(1) creates a legal fiction whereby an arbitral award is enforced under the Code of Civil Procedure in the same manner as a decree of the court, though the award itself does not become a decree. Section 36(3) requires a court considering a stay application against a money award to have due regard to the provisions of Order 41 CPC governing stay of money decrees. (ii) Civil Procedure Code, 1908, O.21 R.1 -- Deposit in Court -- Conditions for Constituting Payment -- A deposit made in court must be unconditional and placed at the complete disposal of the decree-holder for withdrawal to conform with Order 21 Rule 1 CPC. Where withdrawal is permitted only upon furnishing security, or the deposit is resisted at the stage of release, it does not amount to payment in satisfaction of the decree, and interest continues to run on the sum until it is made unconditionally available. (iii) Civil Procedure Code, 1908, O.21 R.1 -- Deposit in Court -- Effect of Decree-Holder's Inaction -- A decree-holder cannot claim interest for a period during which it failed to take action to withdraw funds unconditionally available to it, such inaction constituting deemed refusal. Where a deposit is converted into a fixed deposit at the decree-holder\'s own request, the decree-holder is entitled only to interest accrued on that fixed deposit and not to interest on the decretal sum. Where only part of the sum is tendered and made unconditionally withdrawable, cessation of interest operates only to that extent.
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