In Brief
The State of West Bengal challenged a High Court order setting aside an arbitrator's decision that certain disputes were not arbitrable. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the arbitrator could not re-examine the High Court's appointment order under Section 16 of the Arbitration Act, as Section 11(7) confers finality on such orders. Additionally, by seeking liberty to raise a counter-claim before the arbitrator and voluntarily submitting its own claims, the State was estopped from later challenging arbitrability. The Court upheld the High Court's decision on different grounds, without determining whether the contract's Clause 12 constituted a valid arbitration clause."
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