Case Law Details
S. Square Infra Vs Garneni Chalapathi Rao (Telangana High Court)
The learned counsel for the petitioner mainly contended that as the respondents nominated the Arbitrator residing at Hyderabad, only the Courts at Hyderabad are having jurisdiction but not the Courts at Sangareddy and thus, sought for transfer. Admittedly, the offer of the respondents was rejected by the petitioner herein and he specifically stated that the constitution of Arbitration Tribunal is not warranted, as such, the respondents filed a suit. But again, the petitioner filed a petition under Section 8 of Arbitration Act and the Court referred the matter to Arbitration. As such, the respondent filed O.P.2 of 2022 before the same Court. Therefore, the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner that merely because an Arbitrator of Hyderabad was nominated by the respondents, only the Courts at Hyderabad are having jurisdiction, is not tenable.
Learned counsel for the petitioner cited several citations requesting the Court to decide the seat or venue of Arbitration. Admittedly, it was not specifically mentioned by them in their partnership deed and they filed this transfer CMP only for transfer of Arbitration O.P.2 of 2022 from the file of VII Additional District Judge at Sanga Reddy to the Court of Principal District Judge, City Civil Court at Hyderabad. Since the scope of transfer CMP is limited, this Court need not decide the seat or venue of Arbitration.
The learned counsel for the respondent referred Section 42 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act which reads as follows:-
42. Jurisdiction.— Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Part or in any other law for the time being in force, where with respect to an arbitration agreement any application under this Part has been made in a Court, that Court alone shall have jurisdiction over the arbitral proceedings and all subsequent applications arising out of that agreement and the arbitral proceedings shall be made in that Court and in no other Court.
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