2008 (12) TMI 680

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....e, we will refer to the parties by their rank in the suit. 2. There is a delay of 182 days in filing this petition. The only reason assigned by the petitioner, a seasoned businessman, to explain the delay is that he was confused by diverse opinions about filing of special leave petition. The explanation is neither satisfactory nor sufficient to condone the delay. Even assuming that the delay is condonable, we find that the special leave petition is liable to be rejected on merits. 3. The plaintiff filed the suit on 9.9.2003 for recovery of Rs.9,48,143 with interest allegedly due in regard to (i) price of two consignments supplied by plaintiff to the nominees of the first defendant company and (ii) value of nine samples made available ....

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....ent, a document containing the arbitration agreement need not be signed by all parties. According to the petitioner, if an invoice signed by the seller is acknowledged or accepted or acted upon by the buyer, a term in the invoice providing for arbitration will be an "arbitration agreement" as between the seller and the buyer, irrespective of whether the buyer signed the document or not. We do not propose to examine the said contention as it does not really arise for consideration in this case. 6. The fundamental lacuna in the claim of defendants for reference to arbitration is the absence of an arbitration agreement between the parties, in regard to the suit transactions. The three invoices containing a provision for arbitration relied u....

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....f an arbitration agreement between the parties, they necessarily refer to an arbitration agreement in regard to the current dispute between the parties or the subject matter of the suit. It is fundamental that a provision for arbitration, to constitute an arbitration agreement for the purposes of sections 7 and 8 of the Act, should satisfy two conditions. Firstly, it should be between the parties to the dispute. Secondly, it should relate to or applicable to the dispute. 8. In this case, neither of the two conditions was satisfied. Firstly, the suit related to transactions said to have taken place between plaintiff and first defendant company and its two directors, whereas the documents put forth as containing the arbitration agreement r....