A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court has overruled the judgement of a five-judge bench rendered in April this year in N.N.Global Mercantile Pvt. Ltd. v M/s. Indo Unique Flame Ltd. And Ors., in which a 3:2 majority held that arbitration agreements on which stamp duty has not been paid are unenforceable.
In so doing, the seven-judge bench has correctly held that insufficiency of stamping does not make an agreement void or unenforceable but only makes it inadmissible in evidence. This is a curable defect under the Indian Stamp Act.
This is an accurate interpretation of the law and a very timely ruling. Nevertheless, contracting parties should diligently pay stamp duty on agreements, however small the amounts.