Arbitration agreement requirement bars impleading non-signatories in arbitration proceedings absent binding consent or jurisdiction.

A binding arbitration agreement is a jurisdictional prerequisite for appointing arbitrators under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Where the agreement binds only the signatories, non-signatories cannot be impleaded in arbitration merely because they are promoters or otherwise associated with a contracting party, unless they are shown to be parties to the arbitration agreement or to have an independent dispute within its scope. The court held that the impugned impleadment order lacked jurisdiction because the petitioners were not parties to the arbitration agreement, and set aside the order.

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Issues: Whether persons who are not parties to an arbitration agreement can be impleaded in arbitration proceedings merely because they are promoters of the company, and whether the existence of an arbitration agreement is a necessary precondition for invoking the power to appoint arbitrators.

Analysis: The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 defines arbitration, arbitration agreement, and arbitral tribunal, and requires an arbitration agreement in writing between parties to submit disputes arising from a defined legal relationship to arbitration. The agreement in question bound only the parties to it, and the petitioners, being mere promoters, were not shown to be parties to the arbitration agreement or to have any independent dispute and difference with the respondent. The power under Section 11(6) presupposes the existence of an arbitration agreement, even if its validity or scope may later be examined by the arbitral tribunal under Section 16. A non-signatory cannot be compelled to enter arbitral proceedings in the absence of the foundational jurisdictional fact of an arbitration agreement binding it.

Conclusion: The direction impleading the petitioners in the arbitration proceedings was without jurisdiction and could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned order was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Existence of a binding arbitration agreement between the parties is a jurisdictional prerequisite for invoking Section 11(6), and a non-signatory cannot be compelled to arbitrate merely on the basis of its association with a contracting party.

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