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HC's role in arbitration plea limited

When a high court is asked to appoint an arbitrator, it is not supposed to discuss, much less elaborate, on the factual issues arising in the dispute between the parties. The court's role under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act is only to examine whether there is an arbitration agreement between the parties and any dispute has arisen warranting appointment of an arbitrator, the Supreme Court stated last week in its judgment, Rajesh Verma vs Aswani Kumar.

The Supreme Court remarked that the Delhi High Court in this case went into the merits of the case, which was "wholly uncalled for and should not have been made." The high court had appointed an advocate as arbitrator according to the terms of arbitration in the agreement between the land owner and tenant, but in view of the opposition of the land owner, the Supreme Court appointed a retired high court judge as sole arbitrator.

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