In Brief
Bhagheeratha Engineering Ltd., a road contractor, held four maintenance contracts with Kerala State Transport Project containing a two-tier dispute resolution mechanism: adjudication followed by arbitration. After the adjudicator decided four disputes in 2004, the State referred only Dispute No. 1 to arbitration. The tribunal proceeded to decide all four disputes and awarded ₹1,99,90,777. The Kerala High Court set aside the award, holding the tribunal lacked jurisdiction beyond Dispute No. 1 since only one dispute was referred. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that Section 21 notice is merely procedural for limitation purposes, not jurisdictional. A widely-worded arbitration clause permits the tribunal to decide all disputes within its scope regardless of which specific dispute triggered arbitration. The State's conduct—opposing the adjudicator and proceeding to arbitration—evidenced agreement to arbitrate all disputes.
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