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Supreme Court Of India

(From : Punjab and Haryana)

Hon'ble Judge(s): N. Santosh Hegde, B. P. Singh , JJ

(A) Arbitration and Conciliation Act (26 of 1996) , S.8, S.16— Reference to arbitrator - Agreement between parties before Civil Court containing arbitration clause - Civil Court ought to refer dispute to arbitrator - Question about applicability of arbitration clause to dispute in question - Not to be gone into by Court. C. R. No. 1688 of 2002, D/- 1-7-2002 (P and H), Reversed. The language of S. 8 is peremptory in nature. Therefore, in cases where there is an arbitration clause in the agreement, it is obligatory for the Court to refer the parties to arbitration in terms of their arbitration agreement and nothing remains to be decided in the original action after such an application is made except to refer the dispute to an arbitrator. Therefore, it is clear that if, as contended by a party in an agreement between the parties before the Civil Court, there is a clause for arbitration, it is mandatory for the Civil Court to refer the dispute to an arbitrator. In the instant case the existence of an arbitral clause in the agreement is accepted by both the parties as also by the lower Courts. If that be so, in view of the mandatory language of S. 8 of the Act, the Courts below ought to have referred the dispute to arbitration S.16 has empowered the Arbitral Tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction including rule on any objection with respect to th....