𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 (Delhi High Court)

Abhimanyu Through Special Power of Attorney Holder Vs Parmesh Construction Co. Ltd (May 2024)

The petitioner has approached the Delhi High Court under section 11 of Arbitration seeking for appointment of Arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute pertinent to buyer-builder agreement.

Arbitration clause of the agreement as follows:

“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑁𝑂𝐼𝐷𝐴/𝐷𝑒𝑙ℎ𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑁𝑂𝐼𝐷𝐴 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓/𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚/𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐴𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐴𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.”

Consequently, the Respondent contends that only the courts at Noida have the exclusive jurisdiction and not the Delhi court.

The court observed the following:

1. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
2. Though the agreement includes Delhi High court, considering the above facts only the courts at Noida would have the exclusive jurisdiction entertain the petition pertaining to the disputed agreement.
3. 𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒔. 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒉𝒊 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒔.
4. Accordingly, the court dismissed the section 11 application due to lack of territorial jurisdiction of the court.