The Supreme Court of India has ruled that an “undue and unexplained delay” in the pronouncement of an arbitral award is not, by itself, a sufficient ground to set it aside. In a judgment delivered on October 31, 2025, the Court held that it must be demonstrated that the delay had an “adverse impact” on the final decision, leading to perversity or “patent illegality.”

Applying this principle in the case of M/s. Lancor Holdings Limited versus Prem Kumar Menon and others (2025 INSC 1277), a bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma set aside an arbitral award where a delay of nearly four years was found to have directly contributed to an “ineffective and futile” and “unworkable” decision that was “in conflict with the public policy of India.”

The Court invoked its

See Full Page