Jurisdiction of a court in arbitration proceedings

Arecent judgment by the Supreme Court of India has raised an interesting issue of jurisdiction based on the case of Shivnath Rai Harnarain (India) Ltd v M/s AG Abdul Rehman.

The parties had entered into an agreement which contained a clause that provided for the settlement of disputes through the Indian Council of Arbitration in Delhi. Both parties agreed that if a dispute were to arise, they would resolve it either in Singapore or the UK, and allow the arbitration agreement to be governed by Indian law.

In an attempt to resolve a dispute that had arisen, the parties, through a settlement agreement, mutually appointed Samuel J Marshall as the sole arbitrator and further agreed that the agreement would be governed by Indian law.

Krrishan Singhania is the managing partner and Ranbir Krishan is an attorney at Singhania & Co, a Mumbai-based law firm. Singhania has 20 years of experience in some of the firm’s core practice areas, which include arbitration, litigation and dispute resolution, aviation, and intellectual property.