Merely because a website site provides different Terms and Conditions as applicable to contracts with different categories of parties cannot lead to a conclusion that the relevant Terms and Conditions, which were published on the website accessed through the link provided under Agreement, were not incorporated – Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Nikhil Bhalla – Delhi High Court
April 26, 2024
Hon’ble Delhi High Court held that
(i) Section 7 of the A&C Act defines the term ‘arbitration agreement’. Sub-section (5) of Section 7 of the A&C Act expressly provides that reference in a contract to a document containing an arbitration clause constitutes an arbitration agreement if the contract is in writing and the reference is such as to make that arbitration clause part of the contract.
(ii) If the reference in a contract to a document is such as to make the arbitration clause as contained in the said document a part of the contract, the same would constitute an arbitration agreement.
(iii) The contention that the link mentioned in Clause 15 of the MOCA does not lead to the Terms and Conditions is also not persuasive. Admittedly, the link leads a person to OSPL’s website, which provides links to terms and conditions as applicable to various parties including its ‘Channel Partners’. There is no dispute that NB would be a Channel Partner of OSPL under the MOCA and was aware of the same at the material time.
