In Brief
A construction company challenged the West Bengal Facilitation Council's authority to arbitrate a dispute raised by a micro-enterprise that had not registered under the MSMED Act before contracts were executed. The Supreme Court held that Section 18 is open-ended, permitting 'any party to a dispute' to seek arbitration regardless of prior registration. The Court interpreted the statute to prioritize access to justice over technical prerequisites, reasoning that registration under Section 8 is discretionary, not mandatory. Finding that prior Supreme Court precedents had not addressed this specific question, the Court referred the matter to a three-Judge Bench for authoritative clarification and consistency.
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