Arbitral tribunal jurisdiction to decide MSME Act applicability and contract clubbing objections before merits

Jurisdictional objections to a reference under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, including whether the Act applied to work contracts and whether five separate contracts could be clubbed into one reference, were left open for the arbitral tribunal to decide. The HC held that the tribunal should determine its own jurisdiction, including the petitioner's objections, before proceeding to the merits. The writ petition was disposed of on that basis.

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Issues: Whether the writ petition challenging the reference of disputes to arbitration under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 required adjudication on the applicability of the Act and the clubbing of multiple contracts, or whether those jurisdictional objections should first be decided by the arbitral tribunal.

Analysis: The writ petition raised objections that the Act was inapplicable to the work contracts and that five separate contracts could not be clubbed into a single reference. The Court left those contentions open and directed that the tribunal should decide its own jurisdiction, including the objections raised by the petitioner, before proceeding to the merits.

Outcome: The writ petition was disposed of by directing the arbitral tribunal to determine jurisdiction first.

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