PART II ENFORCEMENT OF CERTAIN FOREIGN AWARDS · CHAPTER I · New York Convention Awards

Section 45: Power of judicial authority to refer parties to arbitration

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996

Notwithstanding anything contained in Part I or in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), a judicial authority, when seized of an action in a matter in respect of which the parties have made an agreement referred to in section 44, shall, at the request of one of the parties or any person claiming through or under him, refer the parties to arbitration, ¹[unless it prima facie finds] that the said agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.

Footnotes in the official text

1.Subs. by Act 33 of 2019, s. 11, for “unless it finds” (w.e.f. 30-8-2019).

Leading cases

Cox and Kings Ltd. v. SAP India Pvt. Ltd. (2023)The group of companies doctrine is valid in Indian arbitration law and can bind a non-signatory group company where the parties' mutual intention shows it, but it cannot rest on the phrase "claiming through or under".
Chloro Controls India (P) Ltd. v. Severn Trent Water Purification Inc. (2012)Under Section 45 of the Arbitration Act, a person claiming through or under a party, including a non-signatory in exceptional cases of composite transactions, may be referred to arbitration; the Court upheld reference of the whole suit to ICC arbitration.

Practise questions on Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996