Altamas Kabir, J. - (1.) This application has been made under Sections 8 and 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in respect of an arbitration proceeding being conducted in London in accordance with English law as per the arbitration clause contained in the agreement entered into between the parties on 5th September, 1996
(2.) The application has initially been heard on the question of maintainability in view of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 2 of the aforesaid Act, which provides as follows:- "(2)This Part shall apply where the place of arbitration is in India."
(3.) Appearing in support of the application, Mr. Gautam Chakraborty submitted that on first impression it would seem that the application was hit by the aforesaid provision, but on closer scrutiny it would be clear that the bar imposed by sub-section (2) of section 2 was conditional and not absolute and was subject to the exceptions contained in Sub-section. (3), (4) and (5) of section 2 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, hereinafter referred to as the "1996 Act".;