Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides that the party to the arbitration merely needs to insinuate the judicial authority about the arbitration clause before the filing of the first statement – Dwarkadas Himatlal Shah Thro LHS Ripak Dwarkadas Shah Vs. LHS of Decd. Girishbhai Himatlal Shah – Gujarat High Court
Hon’ble High Court held that:
(i) considered the provision of Section 8 of the Act, which clearly provides that the party to the arbitration merely needs to insinuate the judicial authority about the arbitration clause before the filing of the first statement. Thereafter, the judicial authority has to compulsarily refer the parties to the arbitration. For invoking the arbitration clause, Section 8 of the Act provides a time limit and within what time limit, the parties need to intimate the judicial authority about the arbitration clause, the said intimation is described in the provision as “not later than the date of submitting his first statement on the substance of the dispute.”
(ii) In the opinion of this Court, while filing the written statement, the respondents – original defendants contended that the parties be relegated to the arbitration in accordance with the arbitration clause. Therefore, it can be concluded that written statement would also be considered as the first statement on the substance of the dispute. Hence, application for arbitration under Section 8 of the Act by the respondents – original defendants at the time of filing the written statement would be maintainable.
