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2006 DIGILAW 3316 (PNJ)

Sant Finance Company v. Darshan Singh

2006-08-17

VINOD K.SHARMA

body2006
JUDGMENT Vinod K. Sharma, J. (Oral) - The present revision petition has been filed against the order dated 2nd of February 2005 passed by the Civil Judge (Jr. Divn.), Kurukshetra vide which the application moved by the defendant- petitioner herein under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act has been declined. 2. It is not in dispute that in the agreement executed between the parties, there was an arbitration clause i.e. Clause 26(A) which covers the matter in dispute. 3. Learned trial Court merely rejected the application by coming to the conclusion that the respondent herein being the registered owner of the vehicle, the agreement of hire-purchase could not be sustained in the eyes of law. This finding of the trial Court cannot be sustained as it was not open to the Court to go into the merits of the case as all the disputes concerning the hire-purchase agreement between the parties were to be decided by the Arbitrator to be appointed out of the panel. 4. The learned counsel for the petitioner relies on the judgment of the Honble Supreme Court in Hindustan Petroleum Corpn. Ltd. v. Pink City Midway Petroleum reported as 2003(6) SCC 503 to contend that in view of the existence of an arbitration clause in the hire-purchase agreement, the trial Court was bound to refer the matter to the arbitration on application having been moved under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. 5. Learned counsel for the respondent has argued that the application moved by the petitioner was not maintainable for want of a certified copy/original of the hire-purchase agreement along with the petition moved under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. However, no notice of this contention can be taken as no objection was taken by the respondent before the trial Court. In view of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the impugned order cannot be sustained. 6. Accordingly the civil revision is allowed, the impugned order is set aside and the application moved by the petitioner under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act stands allowed. Petition allowed.