Arbitration And Tort Law: Krishan Gopal v. Parveen Rajput

An Arbitration clause is designed to set out the procedure that shall govern any dispute arising from or in connection with the contract. The universally acceptable legal position is that once there is an arbitration clause in an agreement, in case of a dispute, the same shall be referred to arbitration.

The Delhi High Court in a recent Judgement (Krishan Gopal v. Parveen Rajput¹ ) has also reiterated the aforesaid position while deciding an issue wherein a party to a contract was allegedly trying to avoid an arbitration clause by claiming that it is seeking punitive damages under the Law of Torts and such a relief cannot be claimed before an Arbitrator. The Hon'ble Court after analyzing the law and its purpose in detail held as follows: