Himachal Pradesh High Court
H.P. Power Corporation Ltd. vs . Adrits Hydro on 13 December, 2024
H.P. Power Corporation Ltd. vs. Adrits Hydro Pvt. Ltd.
Arb. Case No. 654 of 2024 13.12.2024 Present: Mr. Bimal Gupta, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Kusum Chaudyary, Advocate, for the petitioner.
Mr. Vineet Tayed and Ms. Shiwani Tegta, Advocates, for the respondent.
By way of the instant petition, the petitioners have invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 against the arbitral award dated 24.2.2024/16.03.2024, passed by the Arbitral Tribunal.
Section 2 (c) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 defines commercial dispute which includes a dispute arising out of construction and infrastructure contract including tenders vide sub-Clause (vi) of the aforesaid provisions.
Section 10 (3) of the Act ibid reads as under:-
"If such arbitration is other than an international commercial arbitration, all applications or appeals arising out of such arbitration under the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 that would ordinarily lie before any principal civil court of original jurisdiction in a district (not being a High Court) shall be filed in, and heard and disposed of by the Commercial Court exercising territorial jurisdiction over such arbitration where such Commercial Court has been constituted".
As per Section 6 of the said Act, the Commercial Court shall have the jurisdiction to try all suits and applications relating to commercial dispute of a specified value arising out of entire territory of the State over which, it has been vested territorial jurisdiction. Further Section 15 of the Act provides for transfer of all suits and applications including applications under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 relating to commercial dispute of specified value, pending in High Court where the Commercial Division has been constituted.
Vide notification dated 24.10.2024, the Commercial Division has been constituted in this Court.
The instant petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act arises out of an arbitral award, passed in a dispute arising out of a commercial contract between the parties. That being so, this Court will not have the jurisdiction to try the instant petition, rather it will be within the jurisdiction of Commercial Division to decide the matter. Accordingly, this petition is transferred to Commercial Division of this Court for further proceedings.
(Satyen Vaidya) Judge 13th December, 2024 (kck)