Whether court can refer dispute to arbitration if copy of arbitration agreement is not filed along with application U/S 8 of arbitration Act?

There is one another aspect of the matter which is sufficient to uphold the order of the District Judge. Section 8(2) uses the phrase "shall not be entertained". Thus, what is prohibited is the entertainment of the application unless it is accompanied by the original arbitration agreement or a duly certified copy thereof.[17]

In the present case, the original Retirement Deed and Partnership Deed were filed by the Defendants on 12th May and it is only after filing of original deeds that Court proceeded to decide the application I.A. No. IV. Section 8(2) has to be interpreted to mean that the court shall not consider any application filed by the party Under Section 8(1) unless it is accompanied by original arbitration agreement or duly certified copy thereof. The filing of the application without such original or certified copy, but bringing original arbitration agreement on record at the time when the Court is considering the application shall not entail rejection of the application Under Section 8(2).[21] and[22]

In the present case it is relevant to note the Retirement Deed and Partnership Deed have also been relied by the Plaintiffs. Hence, the argument of Plaintiffs that Defendants' application I.A. No. IV was not accompanied by original deeds, hence, liable to be rejected, cannot be accepted. The Court was thus of the view that the Appellants submission that the application of Defendants Under Section 8was liable to be rejected, cannot be accepted.[23]

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Civil Appeal No. 10837 of 2016 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 31179 of 2014)

Decided On: 15.11.2016

 Ananthesh Bhakta and Ors.

Vs.

Nayana S. Bhakta and Ors.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

R.K. Agrawal and Ashok Bhushan, JJ.

Citation:(2017) 5 SCC 185
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