Whether Indian court can execute foreign decree for interest on costs?

 In re Issue No. 5 — It is the case of the appellant that the claim for
interest on costs is not recognized in the Indian law. It is to be noted that
matters of procedure are to be governed by the lex fori, whereas the
matters of the substance are governed by lex causae. In this case, the
question whether the interest on sum of decree of costs to be executed in
India is a matter of substance as the interest on decree is a substantive
right of the decree holder and does not concern itself with the procedural
law of the forum.
32. The appellant relied upon Section 35 of the CPC which enables Courts in
India to impose litigation costs at the discretion of the Court. However,
there is no provision under the CPC or the Interest Act, 1978 which

permits imposition of interest on litigation costs.

In India, although the interest on costs are not available due to
exclusion of Section 35(3), the same does not mean that Indian Courts
are powerless to execute the decree for interest on costs. Indian Courts
are very much entitled to address the issue for execution of the interest
amount. The right to 8% interest as per the Judgments Act, 1838 of UK
can be recognized and as well as implemented in India.

REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 10106 OF 2016
ARISING OUT OF
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 19791 OF 2013
M/S ALCON ELECTRONICS PVT. LTD
V
CELEM S.A. OF FOS 34320 ROUJAN, FRANCE & ANR. 
Dated:DECEMBER 09, 2016
Citation:(2017) 2 SCC253

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