Delhi High Court: Court First Approached in Arbitration Retains Exclusive Jurisdiction Over All Future Pleas

The Delhi High Court reiterated that once a court entertains an arbitration-related plea, all subsequent applications, including challenges under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, must be filed before that court.

A Bench of Justices V. Kameswar Rao and Vinod Kumar held that, even though Chennai was the arbitration venue, the juridical seat remained in Delhi.

Since HDB had earlier moved a Section 9 plea in Delhi, Section 42 barred shifting jurisdiction to another court.

The Court criticised the district court for conflating “venue” with “seat” and restored KCA Infrastructure’s Section 34 petition to the Patiala House Commercial Court.

[KCA Infrastructure v HDB Financial Services]