Section 39: Exclusive recourse against award

39. Exclusive recourse against award (1) Any recourse against an arbitral award under this Act may be made only by an application to the Supreme Court for setting aside in accordance with this section. (2) An arbitral award may be set aside by the Supreme Court only where— (a) the party making the application furnishes proof that— (i) a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity or the agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under Mauritius law; or (ii) it was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present its case; or (iii) the award deals with a dispute not contemplated by, or not falling within the terms of, the submission to arbitration, or contains a decision on a matter beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration; or (iv) the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with this Act; or (b) the Court finds that— (i) the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitration under Mauritius law; (ii) the award is in conflict with the public policy of Mauritius; (iii) the making of the award was induced or affected by fraud or corruption; or (iv) a breach of the rules of natural justice occurred during the arbitral proceedings or in connection with the making of the award by which the rights of any party have been or will be substantially prejudiced. (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) (a) (iii) and (iv)— (a) where decisions on matters submitted to arbitration can be separated from decisions on matters which were not so submitted, only those parts of the award which contain decisions on matters not submitted may be set aside; (b) the Court shall not set aside an award on a ground specified in subsection (2) (a) (iv) where the agreement of the parties was in conflict with a provision of this Act from which the parties cannot agree to derogate. I15A – 23 [Issue 5] International Arbitration Act (4) An application for setting aside may not be made after 3 months have elapsed from the date on which the party making that application has received the award or, if a request has been made under section 38, from the date on which that request has been disposed of by the arbitral tribunal. (5) The Court, when asked to set aside an award, may, where appropriate and so requested by a party, suspend the setting aside proceedings for a period of time determined by it in order to give the arbitral tribunal an opportunity to resume the arbitral proceedings or to take such other action as in the arbitral tribunal’s opinion will eliminate the grounds for setting aside. (6) Where an application is made to set aside an award, the Court may order that any money made payable by the award shall be brought into Court or otherwise secured pending the determination of the application.