TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
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2011 (7) TMI 1275
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....r consideration by the Court in this batch of cases is whether an order, though not appealable under section 50 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter "1996 Act"), would nevertheless be subject to appeal under the relevant provision of the Letters Patent of the High Court. In other words even though the Arbitration Act does not envisage or permit an appeal from the order, the party aggrieved by it can still have his way, by-passing the Act and taking recourse to another jurisdiction. 3. Mr. C.A. Sundaram, senior advocate, however, who led the arguments on behalf of the appellants, would like to frame the question differently. He would ask whether there is any provision in the 1996 Act that can be said to exclude the jurisdiction of the High Court under its Letters Patent either expressly or even impliedly. He would say that the jurisdiction of the High Court under the Letters Patent is an independent jurisdiction and as long as the order qualifies for an appeal under the Letters Patent an appeal from that order would be, undoubtedly, maintainable before the High Court. 4. A correct answer to both the questions would depend upon how the 1996 Act is to be viewed....
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....y the division bench only, on the question of maintainability of their appeals. Civil Appeal No.36 of 2010 coming from the Calcutta High Court is opposite of the aforementioned two SLPs coming from the Delhi High Court. In this case, against an order passed by a single judge of the High Court, by which he granted relief for enforcement of a foreign award, an appeal was preferred before the division bench of the High Court. The appeal was admitted but a preliminary objection was raised in regard to its maintainability in view of section 50 of the 1996 Act. The division bench by order dated May 8, 2007 rejected the preliminary objection holding that the appeal was maintainable. 6. In SLP (C) Nos.22318-22321 of 2010 a single judge of the Delhi High Court dismissed the suit filed by the petitioner and allowed the application filed by defendant nos.3-5 referring the parties to arbitration in terms of section 45 of the 1996 Act. The petitioner's appeal before the division bench was dismissed as not maintainable. The SLP (C) Nos. 22318-22321 of 2010 are filed under Article 136 of the Constitution challenging orders passed by both the division bench and the single judge of the High Co....
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....had relied upon an earlier decision of the Court in Union of India v. Mohindra Supply Co., 1962 (3) SCR 497, a contra view was taken by the Court in Vinita M. Khanolkar v. Pragna M. Pai & Ors., (1998) 1 SCC 500. There, thus, appeared a conflict of decisions on the question. In support of the contra view, the division bench also referred to an earlier decision by a three judge bench of this Court in National Sewing Thread Co. Ltd. v. James Chadwick and Bros. Ltd., AIR 1953 SC 357. 10. Mr. Dave pointed out that neither the decision in Vinita M. Khanolkar nor the decision in National Sewing Thread Co. Ltd. was rendered under the provisions of the Arbitration Act; the former was in the context of section 6(3) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 and the latter under the Trade Marks Act, 1940. He further submitted that after the decisions in Vinita M. Khanolkar and the referral of Orma Impex Pvt. Ltd., a three judge bench of this Court in Union of India & Ors. v. Aradhana Trading Co., (2002) 4 SCC 447, had the occasion to consider the same question, as arising in this batch of cases, though not under the 1996 Act but under the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1940 (hereinafter "1940 Act"....
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....l Telephone Co. Ltd. v. Postmaster-General, (1913) AC 546, (ii) Adaikappa Chettiar v. Chandresekhara Thevar, AIR 1948 PC 12 and (iii) Secy. of State for India v. Chellikani Rama Rao, AIR 1916 PC 21, the decision in National Sewing Thread Co. Ltd. further observed: "Section 76, Trade Marks Act confers a right of appeal to the High Court and says nothing more about it. That being so, the High Court being seized as much of the appellate jurisdiction conferred by S.76 it has to exercise that jurisdiction in the same manner as it exercises its other appellate jurisdiction and when such jurisdiction is exercised by a single Judge, his judgment becomes subject to appeal under Cl.15 of the Letters Patent there being nothing to the contrary in the Trade Marks Act." 15. The Court held that there was nothing in the provisions of section 77 of the Trade Marks Act that would debar the High Court from hearing appeals under section 76, according to the Rules under which all other appeals are heard or from framing Rules for the exercise of that jurisdiction under section 108, Government of India Act, 1915, for hearing those appeals by single judges or by division benches. It also negated the su....
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.... v. State of Haryana, bench of two judges of the Court had held that no Letters Patent Appeal is maintainable against the judgment of a single judge of the High Court on an appeal under section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, whereas in Basant Kumar v. Union of India, (1996) 11 SCC 542, a bench of three judges, without adverting to the decision in Baljit Singh, held that such an appeal is maintainable. The two judge bench, accordingly, referred the case for hearing before a bench of three judges. The three judge bench affirmed the decision in Basant Kumar. It noted that the decision in Baljit Singh was based on concession made in light of an earlier decision of this Court in South Asia Industries (P) Ltd. v. S.B. Sarup Singh, (1965) 2 SCR 756. The decision in South Asia Industries was in a case under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958. In Sharda Devi, the Court pointed out that in South Asia Industries, the Court had examined sections 39 and 43 of the Delhi Rent Control Act and held that a combined reading of the two sections showed that an order passed by the High Court in an appeal under section 39 was to be final. It was held that the provision of finality was intended to exclude ....
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....st the judgment of a single judge of a High Court on an appeal filed under section 299 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Arguing against the maintainability of a letters patent appeal against the judgment of the single judge it was contended that the rejection of the application for probate by the district judge did not give rise to any decree. Hence, an appeal against such an order would be one under section 104 of the Civil Procedure Code and a further appeal would, therefore, be barred under sub-section (2) of section 104. This Court did not accept the submission. It held that the appeal against an order of the district judge would be under section 299 of the Indian Succession Act. Section 104 of the Code simply recognizes appeals provided under special statutes; it does not create a right of appeal as such. Consequently, it does not bar any further appeal also. As regards the nature of an appeal under the Letters Patent, the decision in Subal Paul in paragraphs 21 and 22, observed as follows: "21. If a right of appeal is provided for under the Act, the limitation thereof must also be provided therein. A right of appeal which is provided under the Letters Patent cannot be sa....
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....gainst the order of the single judge, a letters patent appeal was filed. The question of maintainability of the appeal was examined by a full bench of the High Court and the intra-court appeal to the division bench was held to be not maintainable in view of the provisions of section 104(2) of CPC. A Constitution Bench of this Court, however, reversed the decision of the full bench of the High Court and by a majority of 3:2 held that the letters patent appeal was perfectly maintainable. 23. P.S. Sathappan is actually an authority on the interplay of section 104 of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Letters Patent jurisdiction of the High Court. The majority judgment went into the history of the matter and pointed out that under the Civil Procedure Codes of 1877 and 1882 there was a divergence of opinion among the different High Courts on the point whether the finality attached to orders passed under section 588 (corresponding to section 104 of the present Code) precluded any further appeals, including a letters patent appeal. The question, then, came up before the Privy Council in the case of Hurrish Chunder Chowdry v. Kali Sundari Debia, ILR (1882) 9 Cal. 482 ( PC). But the decis....
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....ereafter, there were two decisions in deviation from the accepted judicial view, one by a bench of two judges of this Court in Resham Singh Pyara Singh v. Abdul Sattar, (1996) 1 SCC 49 and the other by a bench of three judges of this Court in New Kenilworth Hotel (P) Ltd. v. Orissa State Finance Corpn., (1997) 3 SCC 462. P.S. Sathappan, overruled both these decisions and declared that Resham Singh Pyara Singh and New Kenilworth Hotel (P) Ltd. laid down wrong law. It further pointed out that even after the aforementioned two decisions this Court had continued to hold that a Letters Patent Appeal is not affected by the bar of section 104(2) CPC. In this connection, it referred to Vinita M. Khanolkar (supra), under section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, Chandra Kanta Sinha v. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors., (2001) 6 SCC 158, under section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Sharda Devi (supra), under section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act and Subal Paul (supra), under section 299 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 and came to the conclusion that the consensus of judicial opinion has been that section 104(1) CPC expressly saves the letters patent appeal and the bar under section 10....
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..... If the pronouncement of the single judge qualifies as a "judgment", in the absence of any bar created by a statute either expressly or by necessary implication, it would be subject to appeal under the relevant clause of the Letters Patent of the High Court. 5. Since section 104(1) CPC specifically saves the letters patent appeal it could only be excluded by an express mention in section 104(2). In the absence of any express mention in section 104(2), the maintainability of a letters patent appeal is saved by virtue of section 104(1). 6. Limitation of a right of appeal in absence of any provision in a statute cannot be readily inferred. The appellate jurisdiction of a superior court cannot be taken as excluded simply because a subordinate court exercises its special jurisdiction. 7. The exception to the aforementioned rule is where the special Act sets out a self-contained code and in that event the applicability of the general law procedure would be impliedly excluded. The express provision need not refer to or use the word "letters patent" but if on a reading of the provision it is clear that all further appeals are barred then even a letters patent appeal would be barred.....
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....ere rendered on section 39 of the 1940 Act, the equivalent of which is section 37 of the 1996 Act. In view of the two decisions, he conceded that in the event an order was not appealable under section 37(1) of the 1996 Act, it would not be subject to appeal under the Letters Patent of the High Court. He, however, referred to section 50 of the 1996 Act, which is as follows: "50. Appealable orders.--(1) An appeal shall lie from the order refusing to-- (a) refer the parties to arbitration under section 45; (b) enforce a foreign award under section 48, to the court authorised by law to hear appeals from such order. (2) No second appeal shall lie from an order passed in appeal under this section, but nothing in this section shall affect or take away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court." 34. Mr. Sundaram submitted that section 50, unlike section 39 of the previous Act and section 37 of the current Act does not have the words "(and from no others)" and that, according to him, made all the difference. He contended that the omission of the words in parenthesis was significant and it clearly pointed out that unlike section 37, even though an order was not appealable under section....
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....information of any sort into a sentence that is logically and grammatically complete without it. A parenthesis may be marked off by commas, dashes or brackets. The degree of interruption of the main sentence may vary from the almost imperceptible one of explanatory words in apposition, to the violent one of a separate sentence complete in itself." 40. The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines parenthesis as follows: "1 a : an amplifying or explanatory word, phrase, or sentence inserted in a passage from which it is usually set off by punctuation b : a remark or passage that departs from the theme of a discourse : digression 2: interlude, interval 3: one or both of the curved marks ( ) used in writing and printing to enclose a parenthetical expression or to group a symbolic unit in a logical or mathematical expression" 41. The Law Lexicon, The Encyclopaedic Law Dictionary by P. Ramanatha Aiyar, 2000 edition, defines parenthesis as under: "Parenthesis. a parenthesis is defined to be an explanatory or qualifying clause, sentence, or paragraph, inserted in another sentence, or in course of a longer passage, without being grammatically connected with it. (Cent. Dist.) PARENTHE....
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....forcement of foreign arbitral awards and defines the law relating to conciliation and provides for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto taking into account the UNCITRAL MODEL law and Rules. 46. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 reads as under: "Statement of Objects and Reasons The law of arbitration in India is at present substantially contained in three enactments, namely, The Arbitration Act, 1940, The Arbitration (Protocol and Convention) Act, 1937 and The Foreign Awards (Recognition and Enforcement) Act, 1961. It is widely felt that the 1940 Act, which contains the general law of arbitration, has become outdated. The Law Commission of India, several representative bodies of trade and industry and experts in the field of arbitration have proposed amendments to this Act to make it more responsive to contemporary requirements. It is also recognised that our economic reforms may not become fully effective if the law dealing with settlement of both domestic and international commercial disputes remains out of tune with such reforms. Like arbitration, conciliation is also getting increasing worldwide recognition as an ....
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.... the same manner as if it were a decree of the court; (viii) to provide that a settlement agreement reached by the parties as a result of conciliation proceedings will have the same status and effect as an arbitral award on agreed terms on the substance of the dispute rendered by an arbitral tribunal; and (ix) to provide that, for purposes of enforcement of foreign awards, every arbitral award made in a country to which one of the two international Conventions relating to foreign arbitral awards to which India is a party applies, will be treated as a foreign award. 5. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects." (emphasis supplied) 47. The Preamble of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is as follows: "PREAMBLE WHEREAS the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 1985; AND WHEREAS the General Assembly of the United Nations has recommended that all countries give due consideration to the said Model Law, in view of the desirability of uniformity of the law of arbitral procedures and the specific needs of international commercial arbitration practice; AND WHEREAS t....
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....etween the provisions of Chapters I and II of Part II but Part I of the Act is vastly different from Chapters I and II of Part II of the Act. This is quite understandable too since Part II deals only with enforcement of foreign awards (Chapter I, of New York Convention Awards and Chapter II, of Geneva Convention Awards) while Part I of the Act deals with the whole gamut of law concerning domestic arbitration and international commercial arbitration. It has, therefore, a very different and much larger framework than the two chapters in Part II of the Act. 50. Part I has ten chapters. Chapter I begins with definition clauses in section 2 that defines, amongst other terms and expressions, "arbitration", "arbitration agreement", "arbitral award", etc. Chapter I also contains some "General Provisions" (sections 3-6). Chapter II contains provisions relating to "Arbitration Agreement" (sections 7-9). Chapter III contains provisions relating to "Composition of Arbitral Tribunal" (sections 10-15). Chapter IV deals with the "Jurisdiction of Arbitral Tribunals" (sections 16-17). Chapter V lays down provisions concerning "Conduct of Arbitral Proceedings" (sections 18-27). Chapter VI deals wit....
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.... enforcement of New York Convention awards. In one sense, the two sections, though each containing the appellate provision belong to different statutes. 53. Having come to this conclusion, it would appear that the decisions rendered by the Court on the interplay between section 39 of the 1940 Act and the Letters Patent jurisdiction of the High Court shall have no application for deciding the question in hand. But that would be only a superficial view and the decisions rendered under section 39 of the 1940 Act may still give the answer to the question under consideration for a very basic and fundamental reason. 54. However, before going into that it will be useful to take another look at the provisions of Chapter I of Part II of the Act. We have so far seen the provisions of Chapter I of Part II of the Act in comparison with those of Part I of the 1996 Act. It would also be relevant to examine it in comparison with the provisions of its precursor, the Foreign Awards, Recognition and Enforcement Act, 1961 and to see how far the earlier Act is consolidated, amended and harmonised and designed for universal application. 55. The provisions of Chapter I of Part II of the 1996 Act alon....
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....ons by way of defence, set off or otherwise in any legal proceedings in India and any references in this Act to enforcing a foreign award shall be construed as including references to relying on an award. 5. Filing of foreign award in court.-(1) Any person interested in a foreign award may apply to any court having jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the award that the award be filed in court. (2) The application shall be in writing and shall be numbered and registered as a suit between the applicant as plaintiff and the other parties as defendants. (3) The court shall direct notice to be given to the parties to the arbitration, other than the applicant, requiring them to show cause, within a time specified why the award should not be filed. 6. Enforcement of foreign award.-(1) Where the court is satisfied that the foreign award is enforceable under this Act, the court shall order the award to be filed and shall proceed to pronounce judgment according to the award. (2) Upon the judgment so pronounced a decree shall follow, and no appeal shall lie from such decree except in so far as the decree is in excess of or not in accordance with the award. 7. Conditions for enforcem....
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....eement for arbitration or a duly certified copy thereof; and (c) such evidence as may be necessary to prove that the award is a foreign award. (2) If the award or agreement requiring to be produced under sub-section (1) is in a foreign language, the party seeking to enforce the award shall produce a translation into English certified as correct by a diplomatic or consular agent of the country to which that party belongs or certified as correct in such other manner as may be sufficient according to the law in force in India. 9. Saving.-Nothing in this Act shall- (a) prejudice any rights which any person would have had of enforcing in India of any award or of availing himself in India of any award if this Act had not been passed; or (b) apply to any award made on an arbitration agreement governed by the law of India. 10. Repeal.-The Arbitration (Protocol and Convention) Act, 1937 (6 of 1937), shall cease to have effect in relation to foreign awards to which this Act applies. 11. Rule making power of the High Court.-The High Court may make rules consistent with this Act as to- (a) the filing of foreign awards and all proceedings consequent thereon or incidental thereto; (b) t....
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....oduce a translation into English certified as correct by a diplomatic or consular agent of the country to which that party belongs or certified as correct in such other manner as may be sufficient according to the law in force in India. Explanation.-In this section and all the following sections of this Chapter, "Court" means the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in a district, and includes the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction over the subject matter of the award if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit, but does not include any civil court of a grade inferior to such principal Civil Court, or any Court of Small Causes. 48. Conditions for enforcement of foreign awards.-(1) Enforcement of a foreign award may be refused, at the request of the party against whom it is invoked, only if that party furnishes to the court proof that - (a) the parties to the agreement referred to in section 44 were, under the law applicable to them, under some incapacity or the said agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law of the country where ....
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....y law to hear appeals from such order. (2) No second appeal shall lie from an order passed in appeal under this section, but nothing in this section shall affect or take away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court. 51. Saving.-Nothing in this Chapter shall prejudice any rights which any person would have had of enforcing in India of any award or of availing himself in India of any award if this Chapter had not been enacted. 52. Chapter II not to apply.-Chapter II of this Part shall not apply in relation to foreign awards to which this Chapter applies. 56. A comparison of the two sets of provisions would show that section 44, the definition clause in the 1996 Act is a verbatim reproduction of section 2 of the previous Act (but for the words "chapter" in place of "Act", "first schedule" in place of "schedule" and the addition of the word "arbitral" before the word "award" in section 44). Section 45 corresponds to section 3 of the previous Act. Section 46 is a verbatim reproduction of section 4(2) except for the substitution of the word "chapter" for "Act". Section 47 is almost a reproduction of section 8 except for the addition of the words "before the court" "in sub-se....
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....sfied that the foreign award is enforceable under this Chapter, the award shall be deemed to be a decree of that Court." 57. Under section 6 of the 1961 Act, the Court on being satisfied that the foreign award was enforceable under the Act, would first order the award to be filed and then proceed to pronounce judgment according to the award. The judgment would lead to a decree against which no appeal would lie except insofar as the decree was in excess of or not in accordance with the award. 58. Section 49 of the present Act makes a radical change in that where the court is satisfied that the foreign award is enforceable, the award itself would be deemed to be a decree of the Court. It, thus, not only omits the procedural formality for the court to pronounce judgment and a decree to follow on that basis but also completely removes the possibility of the decree being in excess of, or not in accordance with the award. Thus, even the limited basis on which an appeal would lie under sub-section (2) of section 6 of the 1961 Act, is taken away. There is, thus, no scope left for an appeal against an order of the court for the enforcement of a foreign award. It is for this reason that se....
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....rfectly valid and so was the award upon it. But it did not come within the scope of the Act. The award could, therefore, be enforced by an ordinary suit under the Code of Civil Procedure. Rejecting the submission, in paragraphs 20, 21 and 22 of the judgment, Meredith, J. observed as follows: "20. ..... It may be regarded as settled that, so far as Sch.2, Civil P.C., and the Arbitration Act of 1899 were concerned, an award based upon an oral submission or reference to arbitration was not touched, but was perfectly legal and valid, and the award could be enforced by suit, though not by the special procedure under the provisions of the Civil P.C., or the 1899 Act. That Act was regarded as not exhaustive even in the limited areas where it was applicable. ..... 21. This view was also taken by the Madras High Court in Ponnamma v. Marappudi Kotamma [19 A.I.R. 1932 Mad. 745], and also in our own High Court in Ramautar Sah v. Langat Singh, A.I.R. 1931 Pat. 92. The view there taken was that there is nothing in law which requires a submission of the dispute between the parties to arbitration to be in writing. A parole submission is a legal submission to arbitration. 22. Has the position....
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....valid. A parole submission was held to be a legal submission to arbitration and an award passed on an oral reference was held to be valid and enforceable by a suit though not by the special procedure prescribed by Sch 2, C. P. C. or the Arbitration Act of 1899.... .... The question whether it was intended merely to make awards on oral submissions unenforceable under the procedure of the Arbitration Act or to make them invalid and unenforceable altogether, would depend to a large extent on whether the Act is exhaustive of the law of arbitration. I am inclined to think that it is. I therefore hold that an award passed on oral submission can neither be filed and made a rule of Ct under the Act, nor enforced apart from the Act. The same opinion has been expressed in 'Gauri Singh v. Ramlochan Singh', AIR (35) 1948 Pat 430: (29 PLT 105)." 64. In Narbadabai and Ors. v. Natverlal Chunilal Bhalakia & Anr., AIR 1953 Bombay 386, a division bench of the Bombay High Court went a step further and held that an arbitration award could only be enforced in terms of section 17 of the Arbitration Act and a suit filed for enforcement of an award was not maintainable. Chagla, C.J. speaking for ....
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....btain judgment upon the award but that summary remedy does not bar a suit. ..." 65. He, then, considered sections 31 and 32 of the Act and came to hold as follows: "6.... Mr. Desai is undoubtedly right that before the Act of 1940 the view was taken that an award did not lose its efficacy merely because it was not filed and no action was taken on it by proceedings under the arbitration law. But the question is whether that view is possible after the Arbitration Act came into force and the Legislature enacted S.32. Therefore, with respect, we agree with the view taken by the Madras High Court in -'Moolchand v. Rashid Jamshed Sons & Co.', [('46) AIR 1946 Mad. 346] and the view taken by the Patna High Court in-- 'Ramchander Singh v. Munshi Mian [('42) AIR 1942 Bom 101]., & the view taken by the Punjab High Court in - 'Radha Kishen v. Ganga Ram [('51) AIR 1951 Punj 121]. 7. The result, therefore, is that the plaintiff cannot maintain this action to enforce the award. ..... Therefore, if we are right in the view we take as to the interpretation of Section 32, then it is clear that Shah J. with respect, had no jurisdiction to try a suit which in substance ....
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....d. At the same time this Court did take the view that since the Act was a self-contained Code with regard to arbitration and was exhaustive, an award could be enforced only by the manner and according to the procedure laid down in section 17 of the Act. In my view, these decisions and particularly, the decisions of the Patna High Court and the Madras High Court clearly indicate the corollary which follows upon an Act being regarded as exhaustive viz.. that it carries with it a negative import that only such acts as are mentioned in the Act are permissible to be done and acts or things not mentioned therein are not permissible to be done. In my view, Section 29 of the Act also is exhaustive of the whole law upon the subject of "interest on awards" and since the said section enables the court to award interest on the principal sum adjudged by an award from the date of the decree onwards, it must be held that it carries with it the negative import that it shall not be permissible to the Court to award interest on the principal sum adjudged by an award for any period prior to the date of the passing of the decree." 67. We have so far seen the decisions of the High Courts holding that ....
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....single Judges of High Courts in arbitration matters from orders passed in appeals. In considering the argument whether the right of appeal which was previously exercisable by litigants against decisions of single Judges of the High Courts in appeals from orders passed in arbitration proceedings was intended to be taken away by s. 39(2) of the Indian Arbitration Act, the Court must proceed to interpret the words of the statute without any predisposition towards the state of the law before the Arbitration Act was enacted. The Arbitration Act of 1940 is a consolidating and amending statute and is for all purposes a code relating to arbitration....." 70. And (SCR pages 512-513): "Prior to 1940 the law relating to contractual arbitration (except in so far as it was dealt with by the Arbitration Act of 1899) was contained in the Code of Civil Procedure and certain orders passed by courts in the course of arbitration proceedings were made appealable under the Code of 1877 by s. 588 and in the Code of 1908 by s.104. In 1940, the legislature enacted Act X of 1940, repealing schedule 2 and s. 104(1) clauses (a) to (f) of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and the Arbitration Act of 1899. By....
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....2) of the Arbitration Act, as the same is a self-contained code relating to arbitration." 72. It is, thus, to be seen that Arbitration Act 1940, from its inception and right through 2004 (in P.S. Sathappan) was held to be a self-contained code. Now, if Arbitration Act, 1940 was held to be a self-contained code, on matters pertaining to arbitration the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which consolidates, amends and designs the law relating to arbitration to bring it, as much as possible, in harmony with the UNCITRAL Model must be held only to be more so. Once it is held that the Arbitration Act is a self- contained code and exhaustive, then it must also be held, using the lucid expression of Tulzapurkar, J., that it carries with it "a negative import that only such acts as are mentioned in the Act are permissible to be done and acts or things not mentioned therein are not permissible to be done". In other words, a Letters Patent Appeal would be excluded by application of one of the general principles that where the special Act sets out a self-contained code the applicability of the general law procedure would be impliedly excluded. 73. We, thus, arrive at the conclusion reg....