Unstamped arbitration agreement are inadmissible but not void: SC

A 7-judge Bench of the Supreme Court (SC), while overruling its previous judgment in the N.N. Global Mercantile case, has held that even an unstamped or improperly stamped arbitration agreement is enforceable, however, the same is inadmissible as an evidence. The SC while holding that non-stamping or inadequate stamping is a curable defect, noted that whether the arbitration agreement has been stamped or not has to be ascertained by the Arbitral Tribunal & not the courts.