Supreme Court of India

MADHYA PRADESH RURAL ROAD DEVELOPMENTAUTHORITY AND ANR.versusBACKBONE ENTERPRISES LIMITED AND ANR.

Citation: 2018 INSC 360
Decided: 18 April 2018
Bench: ADARSH KUMAR GOELR F NARIMAN

Holding

Jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute is vested with the Madhya Pradesh Arbitration Tribunal under the Madhyastham Adhikaran Act, 1983, and the High Court order invoking Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is set aside.

Summary

The Supreme Court considered an appeal by the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority challenging a High Court order that had invoked Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to adjudicate a dispute. The dispute concerned the applicability of the Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983, which provides for a state arbitration tribunal. The Court noted that the earlier precedent of *Va Tech Escher Wyss Flovel Ltd. v. MPSE Board* (2011) 13 SCC 261 had been overruled, thereby removing the basis for the High Court’s reliance on Section 11. Consequently, the Court held that jurisdiction to resolve the dispute lies exclusively with the M.P. Arbitration Tribunal constituted under the Madhyastham Adhikaran Act. The impugned order under Section 11 was set aside, and the parties were directed to approach the statutory tribunal for further proceedings.

Issues considered

Whether the dispute falls within the jurisdiction of the Madhya Pradesh Arbitration Tribunal under the Madhyastham Adhikaran Act, 1983 or the civil courts under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
Effect of the overruling of *Va Tech Escher Wyss Flovel Ltd. v. MPSE Board* on the jurisdictional analysis.

Legislation cited

Subjects

ArbitrationJurisdictionMadhyastham Adhikaran ActSection 11 Arbitration ActVa Tech overruledState arbitration tribunalCivil appeal

Judgment

                        [2018] 4 S.C.R. 255                             255


    MADHYA PRADESH RURAL ROAD DEVELOPMENT                               A
                     AUTHORITY AND ANR.
                                 v.
       BACKBONE ENTERPRISES LIMITED AND ANR.
                  (Civil Appeal No. 4012 of 2018)                       B
                          APRIL 18, 2018
    [ADARSH KUMAR GOEL AND R. F. NARIMAN, JJ.]
      Madhya Pradesh Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983:
                                                                        C
       Jurisdiction of Arbitration Tribunal – Held: Since the *Va
Tech case had been overruled, jurisdiction to deal with the dispute
is vested with the Arbitration Tribunal constituted under the Act –
Impugned order is set aside.
      *Va Tech Escher Wyass Flovel Ltd. v. MPSE Board &
      Another (2011) 13 SCC 261 – Stood overruled.                      D

                       Case Law Reference
      (2011) 13 SCC 261          Stood overruled       Para 2
      CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4012
of 2018.                                                                E
     From the Judgment and Order dated 11.05.2011 of the High Court
of Madhya Pradesh at Indore in Arbitration Case No. 7 of 2011.
                               WITH
      Civil Appeal Nos. 4013 and 4014 of 2018.                          F
      Saurabh Mishra, AAG., Jugal Kishore Gilda, Purushaindra Kumar,
Advs. Gen., Naman Nagrath, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Parag Triathi, Ms.
Kiran Suri, Sr. Advs., Harsh Parashar, Jubin Prasad, Aman Pandey,
Jasdeep S. Dhillon, Prabhat K. Chaurasia, Ms. Renuka Sahu, Jay Savla,
Amar Varun, Shantanu Krishna, Ms. Anusuya Salwan, Dhurav Mishra,        G
Divyanshu Kumar Srivastav, Akash Lamba, Viren Sibal, Vivekananda
B., Vikas Sood, Apporv Kurup, Ms. Isha Mital, Dr. Harsh Pathak,
Ms. Shweta Mahajan, Mohit Chaubey, Siddharth Shukla, Neeraj Shekhar,
Arjun Garg, Mishra Saurabh, Sridhar Potaraju, Sudhir Mishra, Prabhat
Kumar, Ms. Petal Chandok, Ms. Ankita Sharma, Rishabh,
                                                                        H
                                255
256             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2018] 4 S.C.R.


A     M. R. Shamshad, Aditya Samaddar, B. S. Banthia, Ms. Swarupama
      Chaturvedi, Saurabh S. Sinha, Aditya Dev Triguna, Sunil Singh Parihar,
      M/S. AP & J Chambers, Prafulla Kumar Behera, Manish K. Bhardwaj,
      S. S. Nehra, Ms. Anuradha Mishra, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Varun Mohan,
      Swastik Singh, Manish Yadav, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, B.N. Dubey,
      Ms. Devika Gulati, Hitendra Nath Rath, Mayank Kshirsagar, Pavesh
B
      Joshi, Chavu Ambwani (For M/S. AP & J Chambers), B. K. Satija,
      Sumit Attri, K. Krishna Kumar, Hitendra Nath Rath, Nilava
      Bandyopadhayay, Rahul Pandey, Advs. for the appearing parties.
             The following Order of the Court was passed:
C                                   ORDER
             1. Delay condoned. Leave granted.
             2. In view of judgment of this Court in Va Tech Escher Wyass
      Flovel Ltd. v. MPSE Board & Another, (2011) 13 SCC 261 having been
      overruled, the jurisdiction to deal with the dispute in question is vested
D     with the M.P. Arbitration Tribunal constituted under the M.P.
      Madhyastham Adhikaran Adhiniyam, 1983. The direction in the impugned
      order under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is
      set aside.
             3. The appeals are disposed of.
E
             4. The respondent will be at liberty to take their remedy before
      the statutory Tribunal in accordance with law.
             5. The parties may appear before the M.P. Arbitration Tribunal
      for further proceedings on 9th July, 2018.
F            6. The appellant may serve a copy of this order on the respondents.


      Kalpana K. Tripathy                                      Appeals disposed of.



G




H

Search Indian case law

Ask in plain English, not just keywords. 25,000 AI words free, no card.

Try "Arbitration"Sign in to search