Arbitration appointment limits court scrutiny to existence of an agreement; limitation objections go to the arbitral tribunal.

After the 2015 amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the court's role at the Section 11 appointment stage is confined to verifying the existence of an arbitration agreement. A limitation objection cannot be used to refuse appointment of an arbitrator, because questions of limitation are treated as jurisdictional and mixed questions of fact and law that fall within the arbitral tribunal's competence under Section 16. The pre-reference court no longer undertakes wider threshold scrutiny of whether a claim is dead or time-barred. The proper course is for the arbitral tribunal to decide limitation and related jurisdictional objections.

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Issues: Whether, in an application under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 as amended in 2015, the Court could refuse appointment of an arbitrator on the ground that the claim was barred by limitation, or whether that objection had to be decided by the arbitral tribunal.

Analysis: After the 2015 Amendment, Section 11(6A) confines the Court at the appointment stage to examining only the existence of an arbitration agreement. The earlier wider scrutiny of threshold issues, including whether a claim was dead or time-barred, stood curtailed. Section 16 embodies the kompetenz-kompetenz principle and authorises the arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction, including objections relating to the existence or validity of the arbitration agreement and other preliminary jurisdictional issues. Limitation was treated as a jurisdictional issue and a mixed question of fact and law, which therefore fell within the arbitral tribunal's domain rather than the High Court's pre-reference jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The objection based on limitation could not be used to reject the Section 11 application, and the issue of limitation had to be decided by the arbitral tribunal. The appointment of an arbitrator was therefore warranted.

Ratio Decidendi: Post-amendment, the Court's role under Section 11 is limited to verifying the existence of an arbitration agreement, while questions of limitation and other jurisdictional objections are for the arbitral tribunal under Section 16.

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