Section 9 interim protection ends when an independent suit seeks interim relief, leaving the suit to proceed on its own merits.

A Section 9 interim order under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was treated as no longer operative once the respondents instituted an independent suit and sought interim relief in that suit. The Court held that the earlier protection should not survive from the date the suit was filed and interim relief was requested, because the suit would proceed on its own merits. It also directed that neither the impugned Section 9 order nor the present order should influence the suit court's independent consideration of interim relief and the substantive issues.

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Issues: Whether the interim order passed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 could continue after the respondents had filed an independent suit and sought interim relief therein.

Analysis: The respondents had already instituted a separate suit after the Section 9 proceedings and had also sought interim relief in that suit. In that situation, the continuation of the impugned Section 9 order was found unnecessary. The Court therefore directed that the impugned order should not survive from the date on which the suit was filed and interim relief was applied for, and further ensured that the suit would proceed independently on its own merits without being influenced by observations made in the impugned order or in the present order.

Conclusion: The impugned Section 9 order was held ineffective from the date the respondents filed the suit and applied for interim relief, and the matter was left to be decided in the suit on its own merits.

Ratio Decidendi: When a party who has obtained or is relying on interim protection under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 subsequently institutes an independent suit and seeks interim relief there, the earlier Section 9 order may be treated as ineffective from that point, and the suit must be decided independently on its own merits.

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