New Delhi, Nov. 26 -- The Supreme Court has overturned a Bombay High Court order granting an unconditional stay on a Rs 4-crore arbitral award toPopular Caterers, ruling that the case did not justify such an exceptional relief.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan observed that an unconditional stay on the execution of an arbitral award can be granted only in rare circumstances.

Referring to its recent ruling in Lifestyle Equities C.V. & Another v. Amazon Technologies Inc., the Court reiterated the narrow grounds for granting an unconditional stay.

Such relief is permissible only when the award is egregiously perverse, riddled with patent illegalities, facially untenable, or when exceptional causes of a similar nature ar...