Company-law appellate jurisdiction prevails over ancillary arbitration requests, so the Companies Act forum governs the appeal.

Where company-law proceedings before the Company Law Board are challenged, the appellate forum is governed by the Companies Act, 1956, not by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 merely because an ancillary section 45 arbitration request was made. The Delhi High Court's analysis states that the character of the proceedings remains company-law based, so the special appellate route under section 10(1)(a) and section 10F of the Companies Act continues to apply. On that footing, the appeal was held not maintainable before the Delhi High Court, and territorial jurisdiction lay with the High Court having jurisdiction over the company's registered office.

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Issues: Whether the appeal against the Company Law Board's order refusing reference to arbitration lay before the Delhi High Court under section 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, or before the High Court having jurisdiction under section 10(1)(a) and section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956.

Analysis: The proceedings before the Company Law Board were fundamentally company-law proceedings concerning disputes between the companies. The application under section 45 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was only ancillary and did not alter the character of the proceedings or displace the jurisdictional scheme governing appeals from Company Law Board orders. The court applied the principle that the forum of appeal is determined by the statute governing the substantive proceedings and the authority whose order is challenged, and that a merely incidental arbitration application cannot override the special appellate route under the Companies Act, 1956.

Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable before the Delhi High Court and the proper forum was the High Court having territorial jurisdiction over the company's registered office; the objection to territorial jurisdiction was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed for want of territorial jurisdiction and stood dismissed on that ground.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the underlying proceedings are governed by the Companies Act, 1956, an ancillary application under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 does not alter the statutory appellate forum, and jurisdiction to hear the appeal remains governed by the Companies Act.

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