Written arbitration agreement by fax is valid where signed communications show consensus and no extra formalities are required.

A faxed charter party can amount to a concluded contract and a valid arbitration agreement where the correspondence shows final consensus and the document bears the parties' signatures. Applying Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the Court held that an arbitration agreement need only be in writing and may be evidenced by exchanged fax communications; it does not require the original instrument, signatures on every page, or a seal. Unsupported allegations of forgery were rejected, and the Court stressed that additional formalities cannot be imposed consistently with minimal judicial intervention. The charter party was treated as genuine and validly containing an arbitration clause, so appointment of a sole arbitrator was permitted.

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Issues: Whether the faxed charter party agreement constituted a concluded contract and a valid arbitration agreement so as to justify appointment of a sole arbitrator.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether the correspondence and the faxed charter party evidenced final consensus or only continuing negotiations. The faxed document bore the parties' signatures and was supported by contemporaneous correspondence showing delivery and acceptance, while the challenge of forgery was unsupported by evidence. Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 was applied to hold that an arbitration agreement need only be in writing, and that an exchange of communications through fax can constitute a written agreement. The Court also held that the statute does not require the original instrument, every page to be signed, or a seal to be affixed, and that courts should not add formal requirements inconsistent with the legislative policy of minimal judicial intervention.

Conclusion: The faxed charter party was held to be genuine, concluded, and validly containing an arbitration clause. The request for appointment of a sole arbitrator was therefore allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: An arbitration agreement is valid if it is in writing and evidenced by signed communications, including fax, and courts cannot impose additional formal requirements such as original execution, seals, or signatures on every page.

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