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8. Insofar as the place of arbitration is concerned, he submits that the parties had agreed that the arbitration shall be conducted under the Rules of the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, New Delhi (ICADR Rules). He submits that the Rules expressly provided that the place of arbitration would be New Delhi or such other places where the regional offices of the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ACADR) are located. He referred to Rule 17 of the ICADR Rules, which reads as under:

12. Rule 17 of the ICADR Rules indicates that the place of arbitration would be New Delhi or such other place where the regional office of ICADR is situated as the parties may agree. However, the proviso further makes it clear that failing any such agreement, the place of arbitration shall be determined by the Arbitral Tribunal. Clearly, there is no agreement that the place of arbitration shall be New Delhi or any other place where the regional office of ICADR is located. Therefore, it would be for the Arbitral Tribunal to determine the place of arbitration. As noticed above, Article 11.2(b) of the Concession Agreement clearly indicates that the place of arbitration is required to be in Gwalior.

13. Article 16.2 of the Concession Agreement also expressly indicates that the Courts at Gwalior will have the exclusive jurisdiction with regard to the subject matter of the Agreement. Article 11.2 and Article 16.2 of the Agreement, indicate the place of arbitration and the courts that would exercise jurisdiction in the matter.

14. In S.P. Singla Constructions Private Limited v. Construction and Design Services, Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam: Arb.P. 450/2021, decided on 23.09.2021 the Coordinate Bench of this Court has also considered the similar issue. In that case, the parties had agreed that the arbitration shall be conducted under the Rules of ICADR. However, the venue of arbitration was agreed to be at Lucknow. In the said context, the Court had held that since the Agreement indicated that the place of arbitration would be other than New Delhi and notwithstanding Rule 17 of the ICADR Rules, the High Court exercising territorial jurisdiction in respect of place of arbitration would be the appropriate court for entertaining the petition under Section 11 of the A&C Act. Accordingly, the Court had dismissed the petition with liberty to the petitioner to approach the Courts at Lucknow.