Between The Lines... December 2020

1. Delhi High Court: Mere fixation of the place or the seat of arbitration outside India, will not divest the Court of its jurisdiction under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, unless there is any agreement to the contrary

The Hon'ble High Court of Delhi ("DHC") has in its judgement dated October 23, 2020, in the matter of Big Charter Private Limited v. Ezen Aviation Pty. Ltd. and Others [O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) 112/2020] ("Judgement"), held that an agreement would be required to have a specific stipulation that the parties had agreed to exclude the applicability of Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("Act") to the contract between them, and to disputes arising thereunder, and merely fixing a place of arbitration would not oust the Section 9 jurisdiction of the court in case of international commercial arbitration.