SAPNA SANGEETA VENTURES LLP Vs. CHANDRA KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners have filed this petition being aggrieved by the order dtd. 23/1/2024 passed by the Commercial Court in Commercial Case No. 13/2021 whereby the application filed under Sec. 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act of 1996') has been dismissed.

(2.) Facts of the case in short are as under :

(3.) Shri Manoj Munshi, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submits that the learned Commercial Court has wrongly rejected the application solely on the ground that there is an allegation of fraud against the defendants in the plaint and the said issue of fraud cannot be decided by the Arbitrator. Shri Munshi, learned Sr. Counsel submits that the allegation of fraud is between the parties to an agreement which has no implication in the public domain to oust the jurisdiction of the Arbitrator. He has placed reliance on the judgment passed in case of Sushma Shivkumar Daga & Anr. vs. Madhurkumar Ramkrishnaji Bajaj & Ors., reported in 2023 INSC 1081 wherein the Apex Court has held that, 'if an allegation of fraud exists strictly between the parties concerned, the same will not be termed to be as a serious nature of fraud and hence would not be barred for arbitration' (para 20).