STATE OF ORISSA Vs. BHAGYADHAR DASH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These appeals by special leave are by the State of Orissa aggrieved by the orders of the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court allowing the applications filed under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (Act for short) filed by contractors and appointing arbitrators to decide the disputes raised by them against the State Government. The learned Chief Justice held that the last sentence of the proviso to Clause 10 of the conditions of contract (forming part of the agreements between the state and the contractors) is an arbitration agreement. The Appellants challenge the said orders on the ground that there is No. arbitration agreement and therefore the applications under Section 11 of the Act filed by the contractors ought to have been dismissed. Therefore the short question that arises for our consideration in these appeals is whether the said clause is an arbitration agreement. The essentials of an arbitration agreement

(3.) In K.K. Modi v. K.N. Modi, (1998) 3 SCC 573 this Court enumerated the following attributes of a valid arbitration agreement: