An application filed under the section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been dismissed by the Delhi HIgh Court as the arbitration agreement specifies that the exclusive jurisdiction shall be of Noida Court in case of any dispute.
The agreement was made between the CVS Insurance and Vipul IT Infrasoft Pvt Ltd in January 2013. The parties had disputes regarding the payments and arbitration was invoked by the CVS Insurance and for invoking the arbitration clause CVS approached the High Court. In the agreement Noida and Delhi were mentioned as the places where arbitration can be held while it gave exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of Noida.
Justice Yogesh Khanna noted that the just because there is no high court in noida, the jurisdiction will not get shifted to the courts of UP. The specific mentioning of places in an arbitration agreement is done for providing ease in the arbitral proceeding to both the parties. In the instant agreement the jurisdiction is that of the courts of Noida and not of the court of Delhi. Thus, understanding the context of exclusive jurisdiction in the arbitration agreement, it provides exclusive jurisdiction to Noida courts and thus the high court in which jurisdiction lie courts of Noida i.e, High Court of Uttar Pradesh is appropriate for filing present application and not the court of Delhi.
The court has also referred to various judicial precedents and has obtained the following principles (1) though there may be different venues of arbitration but there will be only one seat, (2) when the agreement specifies the seat of arbitration, only such courts will have jurisdiction, (3) the fixed seat/place of arbitration is referred as per section 20(1) and 20(2) of the act and (4) as per section 20(3) of the act, the venue refers to the convenience of the parties.
The court further noted that though the company’s registered office is in New Delhi, no cause of action has arose in delhi.
The court rejecting the plea of the applicant has directed him to file an application before the Allahabad High Court.
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