Can the place of arbitration be determined by the rules of arbitration?
Case Name-
Ecogreen Energy Gwalior Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Gwalior., Arb.P. 1120/2021
In the instant case, the petitioners contended that since the governing rules of the Arbitration were the rules of ICADR, New Delhi, the Delhi Courts (Delhi HC in this case) would have jurisdiction in matters arising out of the arbitration agreement. On the other hand, it was contended by the respondent that since the arbitration agreement mentioned 'Gwalior' as the place of arbitration and it was solely the courts of Gwalior which had jurisdiction in the matter, the petition before the Delhi High Court is not maintainable.
The Decision of the Court was in favor of the respondents.
The Rule 17 of the ICADR provides the place of arbitration to be New Delhi or any other regional office of ICADR 'as the parties may agree'. This was indicative of the fact that the place of arbitration was subject to the agreement between the parties. In the present matter, the arbitration agreement explicitly mentioned Gwalior to be the place of arbitration and jurisdiction to rest with the Courts of Gwalior thus the High Court of Delhi had no jurisdiction in the matter. A reference was made to the decision of the Delhi High Court in the S.P. Singhla Construction case where it was held that rules of the institution are procedural in nature and come to play only upon commencement of the arbitration.
Author - Rishav Ray
School Of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore - Batch of 2024