Law: Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Ordinance, 2011

Section: 3, 4

Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011 (XVII of 2011)-- ----Ss. 3 & 4--Gas Sale & Purchase Agreement--Foreign-seated arbitration--London seat--ICC Rules--GSPA 2022--Termination notice--Civil suit filed--Section 4 application allowed--Reference to arbitration--petition--No arbitral award--Interim relief affecting merits--Res judicata--Second round of litigation--Election--Kompetenz-kompetenz--Emergency Arbitrator--Abuse of process--No prima facie case--Balance of convenience--Supervisory jurisdiction of seat--Section 3 vested exclusive jurisdiction in this Court over matters arising under Act; however, it did not create an independent cause of action nor confer right to enforce arbitration agreement in absence of arbitral award--An arbitration agreement alone did not constitute an executable right but was merely a contractual commitment to arbitrate, enforceable only upon rendering of final award--Act clearly distinguished between pre-award and post-award stages--Section 4 governed pre-award stage and mandated reference to arbitration, whereas Section 3 was concerned solely with recognition and enforcement of final arbitral awards--No litigant could be permitted to re-litigate same cause by adopting different procedural devices--Issues of reference to arbitration and entitlement to interim relief had already been conclusively adjudicated upon, and principle of finality of litigation did not permit their re-agitation under different statutory guise--Having consciously invoked arbitral process, petitioner was precluded from simultaneously seeking inconsistent, parallel, or duplicative relief from this Court--Once a party elected arbitration as its chosen forum, it could not revert to judicial proceedings to obtain relief inconsistent with that choice--Under principle of kompetenz-kompetenz, arbitral tribunal was vested with exclusive authority to rule on its own jurisdiction--Emergency Arbitrator mechanism was not optional or peripheral arrangement; rather, it formed integral part of agreed arbitral framework, binding upon parties by virtue of arbitration agreement--Failure to invoke Emergency Arbitrator…