(1.) The question of law which arises for decision in this case is whether an application for referring a dispute to Arbitration Under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) must be accompanied by the original or certified true copy of the arbitration agreement or not?
(2.) The present petition is directed against the order dated 19.11.2010 passed by the learned Civil Judge, Junior Division, Kasauli whereby she rejected the application filed by the Petitioners (here-in-after referred to as the Defendants) for referring the dispute to arbitration. It is not necessary to either give detailed facts or go into the other aspects of the matter since one of the grounds on which the application was rejected was that the present Petitioners did not alongwith the application file the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy thereof.
(3.) The facts necessary for disposal of the case are that an agreement was entered between the parties whereby the Petitioner-Company agreed to take on lease certain property of the Plaintiff and the said lease agreement contained an arbitration agreement. The Plaintiff-Respondent filed a suit claiming the lease money, whereas the case of the Defendants is that it never took possession of the leased property. The Defendants filed an application under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 before the learned trial Court praying that the lease agreement itself contained an arbitration clause and therefore, the matter be referred to arbitration.