Statutory appeal under section 10F was unavailable because the arbitration referral order was not appealable under section 50.

An appeal under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 was unavailable against Company Law Board orders made on applications under sections 45 and 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The text explains that such orders were passed in the arbitration referral context, not while deciding the substantive oppression and mismanagement petitions under sections 397 and 398 of the Companies Act. Section 50 creates a limited statutory appeal only from the orders it specifies, and section 10F cannot independently create a right of appeal where section 50 does not permit one. The practical effect is that a referral order allowing arbitration could not be challenged through the invoked statutory appeal.

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Issues: Whether an appeal under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 was maintainable against the Company Law Board order allowing applications under section 45 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and referring the disputes to arbitration.

Analysis: The impugned orders were passed while deciding applications under sections 45 and 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, not while adjudicating the substantive oppression and mismanagement petitions under sections 397 and 398 of the Companies Act, 1956. Section 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 expressly permits appeal only from the specified orders and creates a statutory bar beyond those orders. The forum for such an appeal is governed by the law applicable to the authority that passed the order, and section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 can be invoked only where the order is otherwise appealable under section 50. Since the orders challenged here were not appealable under section 50, the appellate remedy under section 10F was unavailable.

Conclusion: The appeals under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 were not maintainable against the orders allowing reference to arbitration under section 45 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the Company Law Board's referral orders could not be entertained in the statutory appeal invoked, so the applications were allowed and the appeals stood barred at the threshold.

Ratio Decidendi: An appeal under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 lies only where the underlying order is itself appealable under section 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996; if section 50 does not provide an appeal, section 10F cannot independently create one.

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