ABG INFRALOGISTICS LTD Vs. PSA INDIA PTE LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ONE is an application by the plaintiff asking for interim orders. There is another application under Section 45 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, by the first defendant to refer the parties to arbitration.

(2.) AN unreported judgment of a Division Bench of the Hon'ble Gujarat High Court in Sadbhav Engineering Limited and Anr. vs. Montecarlo Limited and Ors. delivered on 22nd August 2013, cited by Mr. S. N. Mookherjee, learned senior advocate for the first defendant, opines that it is obligatory for the judicial authority to decide or "prima facie find out" as to whether the conditions mentioned in Section 8 of the above Act were fulfilled or not. The dictum of this High Court with regard to Section 8, in my opinion, should be extended in its application, to Section 45 as well.

(3.) THIS judgment provides a valuable guidance. The Court in which an application under Section 8 or Section 45 is filed is required, at the threshold, to prima facie decide whether there is an operative arbitration clause binding the parties and covering the subject matter of the dispute or a substantial part of it in the judicial action and then pass necessary orders with regard to the suit.