Agreed deposit satisfies the conditional stay requirement pending adjudication of the Section 34 petition.

The petitioner challenged a Commercial Court order granting a stay of an arbitral award subject to depositing 50% of the award amount within 30 days.

The award directed payment of rent arrears and damages, among other amounts, and delivery of vacant possession of the premises.

The High Court had earlier stayed the deposit condition insofar as it concerned the rental claim, pending consideration of payment records and the parties’ calculations.

The petitioner then reported depositing ₹5,04,700, calculated as 50% of the claimed balance damages after accounting for the advance held by the respondents and adding interest.

The respondents’ counsel agreed that this deposit could be accepted as compliance with the Commercial Court’s order.

Whether the petitioner’s deposit of ₹5,04,700 could be accepted as satisfying the deposit condition imposed by the Commercial Court.

Whether the Section 34 challenge to the arbitral award should proceed to adjudication on its merits before the Commercial Court.

Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides the basis for an application to set aside an arbitral award, while Sections 36(2) and 36(3) concern a court’s power to stay enforcement of an award pending such an application.

The Commercial Court had made its stay conditional on a deposit of 50% of the award amount.

The High Court did not set out or apply a further statutory test or precedent; it accepted the deposit as satisfying that condition in light of the respondents’ submission.

The petitioner’s calculation treated the advance already held by the respondents as a credit against the award and identified ₹9,80,000 as the remaining balance claimed towards damages, of which it deposited 50%, together with interest.

Rather than determine the parties’ underlying accounting or the merits of the award, the High Court relied on the respondents’ agreement that the deposit be accepted as compliance with the impugned order.

It therefore resolved the immediate deposit issue while leaving the merits of the Section 34 challenge to the Commercial Court.

The ₹5,04,700 deposit was accepted as satisfying the condition imposed by the Commercial Court’s order, and the Commercial Court was directed to continue adjudicating the Section 34 application on its merits in accordance with law.

The parties’ substantive contentions were left open.