Writ jurisdiction and arbitration remedy: High Court declined to compel reference where the Arbitration Act provided an efficacious route.

Where the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides an efficacious mechanism for appointment and commencement of arbitration, the High Court should ordinarily decline to exercise writ jurisdiction to compel reference to arbitration. The court noted that, if the agreed appointment procedure fails, recourse may lie under section 11(6)(c), and section 5 limits judicial intervention in matters governed by the Act. It therefore treated the statutory remedy as sufficient and held the writ petition not maintainable, while leaving open the question whether the exchange byelaws alone governed the procedure for consideration in appropriate section 11 proceedings.

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Issues: Whether the writ petition was maintainable to compel the exchange to accept and register the arbitration application and refer the dispute to arbitration, despite the availability of a statutory remedy under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

Analysis: The writ remedy was sought to secure reference to arbitration under the exchange byelaws. The Court noted that the dispute could be pursued under section 11(6)(c) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 when the agreed appointment procedure fails, and that section 5 restricts judicial intervention in matters governed by the Act. The existence of an efficacious remedy under the arbitration statute was treated as a sufficient ground to decline exercise of extraordinary writ jurisdiction. The Court did not finally pronounce on the rival contention that the exchange byelaws alone governed the procedure, leaving that question open for consideration in appropriate proceedings under section 11.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable in the facts of the case and the Court refused to direct arbitration through its extraordinary jurisdiction.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides an efficacious mechanism for appointment and commencement of arbitration, the High Court should ordinarily decline to exercise writ jurisdiction to compel reference to arbitration.

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