Calcutta High Court
Gour Chandra Dutta vs State Of West Bengal And Anr. on 20 September, 2002
Equivalent citations: 2004(2)ARBLR454(CAL), 2004(1)CHN660
JUDGMENT Alok Kumar Basu, J.
1. Despite service of notice, none appears on behalf of the State Respondents. Affidavit of service filed today be kept on record.
2. This is an application filed under Article 227 of the Constitution challenging order dated 27.6.02 passed by the ld. Civil Judge (Sr. Div.), Cooch Behar in Title Execution No. 2 of 02.
3. The fact of the case is that the petitioner herein got an arbitration award relating to a work within the jurisdiction of Cooch Behar Sadar and to enforce with arbitration award in accordance with Section 36 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, the petitioner filed an appropriate application before the Court of Civil Judge (Sr. Div.), Cooch Behar.
4. The learned Civil Judge (Sr. Div.), Cooch Behar by his order dated 27th June, 2002 after considering Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act read with Section 42 and also after considering Section 2(4) of the Civil Procedure Code was of the view that he not being the Principal Civil Judge as mentioned in Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act, he has no jurisdiction to entertain the application for enforcement of the arbitration award and hence, he refused to entertain the said application on the ground of maintainability
5. The learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner and challenging the impugned order submits that there cannot be any dispute that under the provisions of Section 36 of the Arbitration Act, an arbitration award can be enforced like a decree of the Civil Court and such award to be executed by the Court as defined in Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act.
6. The learned Advocate submits that from the impugned order it appears that there was confusion in the mind of the learned Judge about the exact interpretation of the words "Principal Civil Court" as appearing in Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act but in view of Section 18 of the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887, there should not be any confusion as Principal Civil Court will also include the Court of Civil Judge (Sr. Division).
7. The learned Advocate contends that it has been clarified in a decision reported in the case of ICDS Ltd. v. Mangala Builders Pvt. Ltd. and Ors., , that an arbitration award is to be enforced by a Civil Court within the meaning of Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act. The learned Advocate next submits that the confusion as to whether the Court of Civil Judge (Sr. Div.) will have the jurisdiction to entertain such application was also considered in a decision of Executive Engineer, CPWD and Ors. v. R.D. Singh, Civil Engineer reported in 1997(1) PLJR 857 and in that decision it was held by the Patna High Court that an arbitration award and for that matter any application relating to an arbitration proceeding can be filed before the Civil Judge (Sr. Div.) having unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction and included within the definition of Principal Judge, Civil Court.
8. After going through the impugned order, and having regard to the submissions made on behalf of the petitioner and after considering the decisions cited from the bar, I am of the view that the learned Civil Judge (Sr. Div.) erred in law by taking recourse to provision of Section 42 of the Arbitration Act which has got, in fact, no application for adjudication of the present dispute.
9. From a plain reading of Section 36 read with Section 2(e) of the Arbitration Act and having regard to the Section 18 of the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887, it is very much clear that an arbitration award can be submitted for execution before such a Court which would have ordinary jurisdiction to entertain the suit covering the subject-matter of the arbitration agreement and in view of that statutory provision, the order of the learned Civil Judge, cannot be supported in the eye of law.
10. Accordingly, there is merit in the present application and the same is allowed without any order as to cost.
11. The learned Civil Judge (Sr. Div.), Cooch Behar is directed to entertain the application for enforcement of the arbitration award and to proceed with the same in accordance with law.