Arbitral award enforcement must be filed before the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, not an inferior civil court.

An arbitral award enforceable under section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 must be executed before the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in the district, because "Court" under section 2(e) excludes inferior courts. Read with the Code of Civil Procedure and the General Clauses Act, the proper forum is the District Court having jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the dispute as if it were a suit. Jurisdictional tests for where a suit may lie do not shift enforcement to a lower civil court. An execution petition before the Senior Civil Judge, Miryalaguda, was therefore not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the execution petition for enforcement of an arbitral award could be presented before the Senior Civil Judge, Miryalaguda, or only before the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction.

Analysis: Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 enables enforcement of an arbitral award as if it were a decree. The expression "Court" in section 2(e) of that Act means the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in a district, and excludes courts inferior to that court. Reading section 2(e) together with section 2(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and section 3(17) of the General Clauses Act, 1897, the proper forum is the District Court having jurisdiction to try a suit relating to the subject-matter of arbitration. The jurisdictional test under section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 may indicate the courts where a suit could lie, but enforcement of the award must still be before the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The execution petition was not maintainable before the Senior Civil Judge, Miryalaguda, and had to be filed before the District Court having jurisdiction.

Ratio Decidendi: An arbitral award enforceable under section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 can be executed only by the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in the district that would have jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the dispute as if it were a suit.

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