Summary: On January 21, 2026, the Madras High Court, led by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, overturned an arbitration decision about a disagreement in the S J Infra partnership. The case involved claims of a fake agreement and unpaid money.
The case started when K. Jayachandran and V. Sudhakar created a partnership called S J Infra on July 19, 2017. The company, located in Thiruvallur, worked on building projects for government departments.
In August 2019, K. Jayachandran found out that checks were being issued without his signature. After checking with Andhra Bank, he discovered that he was supposedly removed from the partnership through an agreement dated June 3, 2019. Jayachandran claimed this document was fake and made with blank papers he had signed.
"The petitioner sent a letter dated 14.08.2019 to Andhra Bank to freeze the bank account."
An arbitrator was chosen on October 18, 2019, to settle the disagreement. K. Jayachandran wanted the agreement declared fake and asked for his share of the profits. The other side argued that Jayachandran had willingly signed the agreement and received all the money he was owed.
The arbitrator, Mr. P.J. Rishikesh, dismissed K. Jayachandran’s claims on January 23, 2023, saying he didn't prove the agreement was fake.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh found that the arbitrator didn't consider all the issues, especially whether the payments in the agreement were made. This mistake led the court to overturn the decision because of "obvious mistakes."
"The award suffers from obvious mistakes," noted the judge.
The court's decision allows both parties to start new arbitration proceedings to settle their disagreements. Justice Venkatesh stressed the need to consider all important issues in such cases.
