Report No. 76

1.30. General provisions.-

General provisions applicable to all arbitrations then follow (sections 26 to 38): These also include a group of sections (sections 31 to 33) which unmistakeably indicate the intention of the framers of the Act that awards should not possess any sanctity by themselves, that they must be approved by the court by obtaining a judgment in terms thereof, and that the validity, effect or existence of the award of arbitration agreement between the parties to the agreement or persons claiming under them must be decided in the court in which the award has been filed for obtaining such judgment.

It is only that court which is seized of all questions connected with the conduct of arbitration proceedings or otherwise arising out of such proceedings. In other words, both the forum and the manner of asserting or denying the benefits of arbitration are emphatically sought to be regulated by these sections. The Legislature thus "intended to make only one court as the venue for all matters connected with arbitration agreement or award and also to make applications (not suits) as the vehicle to approach the court".1

1. Nathu Lal v. Bahari La/, AIR 1952 Nag 65 (67) (1-lidayatulla and Kaushalendra Rao, JJ.).