NASIM AKHTAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, challenging an award dated 29th September, 2014, passed by an arbitral tribunal comprising of a sole arbitrator. Initially, the petitioner had approached the City Civil Court at Calcutta but was advised to withdraw the section 34 application in order to file the same before this Court. Consequently, that section 34 application was dismissed for non-prosecution at the instance of the petitioner and the present application was filed before this Court.

(2.) A question that comes up for consideration is whether the award, which carries a value of Rs.71,58,180/-, could not have been challenged before the City Civil Court at Calcutta on the ground that only this Court, exercising its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, was competent to entertain, try and determine the instant section 34 application, notwithstanding the fact that the City Civil Court had pecuniary jurisdiction to do so.

(3.) In order to find a clear answer to the issue, one requires to take into consideration, at first, the statutory definition of the word, "Court", as provided under section 2(1)(e) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which reads as follows :