M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITEDversusOIL AND NATURAL GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR.

                          [2019] 17 S.C.R. 995                           995


                M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED                              A
                                  v.
 OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR.
                   (Civil Appeal No. 9106 of 2019)
                       NOVEMBER 28, 2019                                 B
     [ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN, ANIRUDDHA BOSE
           AND V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.]
       Constitution of India: Art. 227 – Exercise of jurisdiction by
the High Court u/Art. 227 – In matters decided under the
                                                                         C
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – On facts, termination of
contract by respondent due to supply of second hand product by
the appellant – Commencement of arbitration proceedings –
Meanwhile, respondent blacklisted appellant for a period of two
years – Appellant filed application u/s. 17 before the arbitrator
against the ban – Appellant also filed application u/s. 16 which         D
was dismissed – Thereafter, disposal of s. 17 application by the
arbitrator with the condition that the two year ban will only operate
if appellant ultimately loses the final arbitration proceedings – Said
order upheld in appeal – First appeal filed u/s. 37 dismissed by
the civil court – Application u/Art. 227 filed before the High Court
                                                                         E
by the respondent – High Court allowed the petition – On appeal,
held: Art. 227 is a constitutional provision which remains untouched
by the non-obstante clause of s. 5 of the Act – Though petitions
can be filed u/Art.227 against judgments allowing or dismissing
first appeals u/s. 37 of the Act, yet the High Court would be
extremely circumspect in interfering with the same, taking into          F
account the statutory policy as adumbrated so that interference is
restricted to orders that are passed which are patently lacking in
inherent jurisdiction – High Court inverted this statutory scheme
by going into exactly the same matter as was gone into by the
arbitrator in s.16 application – Entering into the general thicket
                                                                         G
of disputes between the parties does not behove a court exercising
jurisdiction u/Art. 227, where only jurisdictional errors can be
corrected – Arbitral tribunal was well within its jurisdiction in
referring to the contract and the ban order and then applying the
law and finally issuing the stay order – More so, merely because,
the first appeal was disposed of by a court subordinate to the High      H
                                  995
996            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2019] 17 S.C.R.


A     Court, an Art. 227 petition ought not to have been entertained –
      Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 – ss. 5, 37,
            Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996: Policy and object
      of – Held: Policy of the Act is speedy disposal of arbitration cases
      – Object of the Act is that of minimizing judicial intervention which
B     should always be kept in the forefront when Art. 227 petition is
      being disposed of against proceedings decided under the Act.
            Allowing the appeal, the Court
            HELD: 1.1 The Arbitration Act is a special act and a self
      contained code dealing with arbitration. The policy of the Act is
C
      speedy disposal of arbitration cases. The object of the Act being
      that of minimizing judicial intervention. This object should always
      be kept in the forefront when a 227 petition is being disposed
      of against proceedings that are decided under the Act. [Para 14,
      17] [1008-H; 1010-F]
D
            SBP & Co. v. Patel Engineering Ltd. & Another
            (2005) 8 SCC 618 : [2005] 4 Suppl. SCR 688 –
            followed.
            Fuerst Day Lawson Limited v. Jindal Exports Limited,
E           (2011) 8 SCC 333 : [2011] 11 SCR 1 – referred to.
            1.2 Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,
      1996 which was inserted by the Amendment Act, 2016 a time
      limit was made within which arbitral awards must be made,
      namely, 12 months from the date the arbitral tribunal enters
F     upon the reference. Even so far as Section 34 applications are
      concerned, Section 34(6) added by the same amendment states
      that these applications are to be disposed of expeditiously, and
      in any event, within a period of one year from the date on which
      the notice referred to in sub–section (5) is served upon the other
      parties. Given the said statutory provision and given the fact that
G     the 1996 Act repealed three previous enactments in order that
      there be speedy disposal of all matters covered by it, it is clear
      that the statutory policy of the Act is that not only are time limits
      set down for disposal of the arbitral proceedings themselves but
      time limits have also been set down for Section 34 references
H     to be decided. [Para 10, 11] [1004-D-F]
   M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                    997
          GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR.

     Union of India v. M/s Varindera Const. Ltd. (2020) 2            A
     SCC 111 – referred to.
      1.3 Most significant of all is the non–obstante clause
contained in Section 5 which states that notwithstanding anything
contained in any other law, in matters that arise under Part I of
the Arbitration Act, no judicial authority shall intervene except    B
where so provided in this Part. Section 37 grants a constricted
right of first appeal against certain judgments and orders and
no others. Further, the statutory mandate also provides for an
attempt, and interdicts a second appeal being filed. [Para 12]
[1004-H; 1005-A]
                                                                     C
       1.4 There is no doubt whatsoever that if petitions were to
be filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution against orders
passed in appeals under Section 37, the entire arbitral process
would be derailed and would not come to fruition for many years.
At the same time, it cannot be forgotten that Article 227 is a
constitutional provision which remains untouched by the non–         D
obstante clause of Section 5 of the Act. In these circumstances,
what is important to note is that though petitions can be filed
under Article 227 against judgments allowing or dismissing first
appeals under Section 37 of the Act, yet the High Court would
be extremely circumspect in interfering with the same, taking        E
into account the statutory policy as adumbrated so that
interference is restricted to orders that are passed which are
patently lacking in inherent jurisdiction. [Para 13] [1005-B-D]
     Nivedita Sharma v. Cellular Operators Association of
     India and Others (2011) 14 SCC 337 – referred to.               F
      1.5 On 09.05.2018, a Section 16 application had been
dismissed by the Arbitrator in which substantially the same
contention which found favour with the High Court was taken
up. The drill of Section 16 of the Act is that where a Section 16
application is dismissed, no appeal is provided and the challenge
                                                                     G
to the Section 16 application being dismissed must await the
passing of a final award at which stage it may be raised under
Section 34. What the High Court has done in the instant case is
to invert this statutory scheme by going into exactly the same
matter as was gone into by the arbitrator in the Section 16
application, and then decided that the two year ban was no part      H
998           SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2019] 17 S.C.R.


A     of the notice for arbitration issued on 02.11.2017, a finding which
      is directly contrary to the finding of the Arbitrator dismissing
      the Section 16 application. For this reason alone, the judgment
      under appeal needs to be set aside. Even otherwise, the
      judgment under appeal goes into the merits of the case and
      states that the action of putting the Contractor and his Directors
B
      “on holiday” is not a consequence of the termination of the
      agreement. This is wholly incorrect as it is only because of the
      termination that the show cause notice dated 18.10.2017
      proposing to impose a two year ban was sent. Even otherwise,
      entering into the general thicket of disputes between the parties
C     does not behove a court exercising jurisdiction under Article
      227, where only jurisdictional errors can be corrected. Therefore
      to state that the ban order was passed under a General Contract
      Manual and not Clause 18 of the Agreement, besides being
      incorrect, would also be incorrect for the reason that the General
      Contract Manual does not mean that such order was issued as
D
      an administrative order invoking the executive power, but was
      only as an order which emanated from the contract itself. Further
      to state that “serious disputes” as to jurisdiction seem to have
      cropped up is not the same thing as saying that the Arbitral
      Tribunal lacked inherent jurisdiction in going into and deciding
E     the Section 17 application. In point of fact, the Arbitral Tribunal
      was well within its jurisdiction in referring to the contract and
      the ban order and then applying the law and finally issuing the
      stay order. Even if it be accepted that the principle laid down
      by Section 41(e) of the Specific Relief Act was infracted, in that
      damages could have been granted, as a result of which an
F
      injunction ought not to have been issued, is a mere error of law
      and not an error of jurisdiction, much less an error of inherent
      jurisdiction going to the root of the matter. Therefore, even
      otherwise, the High Court judgment cannot be sustained and is
      set aside. [Para 16] [1009-F-H; 1010-A-E]
G           1.6 It becomes clear that had the High Court itself
      disposed of the first appeal in the instant case, no Article 227
      petition could possibly lie – all that could perhaps have been
      done was to file an LPA before a Division Bench of the same
      High Court. Merely because, on the facts of this case, the first
H     appeal was disposed of by a court subordinate to the High Court,
   M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                       999
          GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR.

an Article 227 petition ought not to have been entertained. [Para       A
17] [1011-C-D]
      1.7 The legislative policy qua the general revisional
jurisdiction that is contained by the amendments made to Section
115 C.P.C. should also be kept in mind when High Courts
dispose of petitions filed under article 227. The legislative policy    B
is that no revision lies if an alternative remedy of appeal is
available. Further, even when a revision does lie, it lies only
against a final disposal of the entire matter and not against
interlocutory orders. The arbitration proceedings may be
disposed of as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with the
mandate contained in the Act. [Para 18, 19] [1011-E-F; 1012-G]          C

      SBP & Co. v. Patel Engineering Ltd. & Another (2005)
      8 SCC 618 : [2005] 4 Suppl. SCR 688 –
      distinguished.
      Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited v. Kewal               D
      Singh Dhillon (2008) 10 SCC 128 : [2008] 12 SCR
      569 ; Tek Singh v. Shashi Verma and Another 2019
      SCC OnLine SC 168 – referred to.
                       Case Law Reference
[2011] 11 SCR 1                   referred to          Para 8           E
[2008] 12 SCR 569                 referred to          Para 8
(2020) 2 SCC 111                  referred to          Para 11
(2011) 14 SCC 337                 referred to          Para 14
[2005] 4 Suppl. SCR 688           distinguished        Para 14          F

[2005] 4 Suppl. SCR 688           followed             Para 17
      CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 9106
of 2019
      From the Judgment and Order dated 25.07.2018 of the High          G
Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in R/Special Civil Application No. 9305
of 2018.
     Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv., Mahesh Agarwal, Rishi Agrawala,
Ankur Saigal, Shubham Kulshreshtha, E. C. Agrawala, Ms. Misha
Rohatgi, Ms. Parul Shukla, Ajitesh Soni, Advs. for the Appellant.       H
1000            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A           K. M. Nataraj, ASG, Sandeep Mahapatra, Abhishek Praharaj,
       Vinayak Sharma, Kanu Agrawal, Manan Popli, Ms. Mrinmayee Sahu,
       Advs. for the Respondents.
             The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
             R. F. NARIMAN, J.
 B
             1. Leave granted.
              2. The present appeal raises important questions relating to the
       High Court’s exercise of jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution
       of India when it comes to matters that are decided under the Arbitration
       and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“the Act” for short).
 C
              3. In the present case, the respondent-Oil and Natural Gas
       Corporation Limited (for short “ONGC”) awarded a contract to the
       appellant for supply of one Mobile Air Compressor for a period of five
       years. Shortly after entering into the contract, the contract was
       terminated on 11.10.2017 by the ONGC on the ground that some part
 D     of the equipment was not new but only second hand. This position was
       disputed by the appellant. On the very next day, i.e. on 12.10.2017,
       the Vendor Code of the appellant was blocked, meaning thereby, that
       the appellant would be unable to bid for any other further bids floated
       by the ONGC. On 18.10.2017, a Show Cause Notice was issued by
       the ONGC to the appellant asking the appellant why it should not be
 E
       put “on Holiday” i.e. black listed for a period of two years.
               4. Since disputes had arisen between the parties, the appellant
       invoked the arbitration clause contained in the contract on 02.11.2017.
       This notice is the subject-matter of dispute before the Arbitrator as well
       as before this Court and will be adverted to subsequently. Pursuant to
 F     the notice, one Justice J.C. Upadhyaya (Retd. High Court Judge) was
       appointed as a Sole Arbitrator to decide the disputes between the parties
       on 21.12.2017. On 02.02.2018, a claim petition was filed by the
       appellant before the learned Arbitrator in which the termination of the
       contract/show cause notice was challenged and damages claimed. After
       this claim petition was filed, on 15.02.2018, the appellant was blacklisted
 G
       by an order passed by the ONGC with effect from 11.10.2017 for a
       period of two years. Meanwhile, a Section 17 application was also
       been moved before the learned Arbitrator. Applications were then
       moved by the appellant to amend both the petition as well as the Section
       17 application to challenge this order dated 15.02.2018, which
 H     amendments were granted by the learned Arbitrator on 10.03.2018.
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                             1001
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

       5. Meanwhile, a Section 16 application was before the learned         A
Arbitrator basically on the ground that since the arbitration notice was
confined only to termination of the agreement, blacklisting would be
outside the Arbitrator’s ken. This Section 16 application was dismissed
on 09.05.2018 by the learned Arbitrator, in which the learned Arbitrator
held that the notice dated 02.11.2017 was not merely confined to             B
termination of the contract but was also in respect of the two year ban
that was sought to be imposed at that time. He further held that the
ban order was relatable to Clause 18 of the contract and that therefore
the validity of the 15.02.2018 office order could be decided by him, and
consequently dismissed the Section 16 application filed by the
respondent.                                                                  C

      6. On the same day i.e. 09.05.2018, the Section 17 application
was separately disposed of by the learned Arbitrator, in which the learned
Arbitrator stayed the operation of the order dated 15.02.2018 on
condition that the two year ban will only operate if the appellant
ultimately loses in the final arbitration proceedings.                       D

       7. An appeal against the Section 17 Order was filed and disposed
of by the City Civil Court, Ahmedabad on 31.05.2018 by which the
learned Arbitrator’s order was upheld. Consequently, the first appeal
filed under Section 37 was dismissed. At this stage, and which is the
major bone of contention between the parties before us, a Special Civil      E
Application being Application No. 9305/2018 was filed under Article
227 of the Constitution of India before the High Court Gujarat at
Ahmedabad in which the City Civil Court’s order was challenged. By
the impugned judgment dated 25.07.2018, the High Court of Gujarat
referred to a preliminary contention raised on behalf of the petitioner      F
that the petition filed under Article 227 should be dismissed at the
threshold as it did not raise any jurisdictional issue. The High Court,
without answering this question, then went on to state that the ban order
had, in fact, been passed under a General Contract Manual and not
under Clause 18 of the Agreement as a result of which serious disputes
                                                                             G
arose as to the jurisdiction of the Arbitrator to deal with the same. It
was also held on a reading of the notice for arbitration that the notice
did not raise the issue of the ban for two years and was confined only
to illegal termination. The High Court finally held that no stay could
possibly have been granted under Section 17 of the ban order as an
injunction cannot be granted in cases where the party can be                 H
1002            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A     compensated later in damages. This being the case, the Writ Petition
       was allowed and the Ahmedabad City Civil Court’s order was set aside.
              8. Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior counsel appearing for the
       appellant has argued that the High Court referred to the preliminary
       objection before it but did not answer the same. He took us
 B     painstakingly through the Act, in particular, to the provisions of Sections
       5 and 37 and argued that given the non-obstante clause contained in
       Section 5 together with the constricted right of first appeal under Section
       37, and the denial of the right of second appeal, that a second bite at
       the cherry would not be permissible under any circumstances, and that
       despite the fact that Section 5 of the Act could not possibly interdict a
 C     constitutional provision, namely, Article 227, yet the statutory scheme
       ought to be taken into account in order to deny relief in almost every
       case. For this purpose, he relied upon this Court’s judgment in SBP &
       Co. vs. Patel Engineering Ltd. & Another, (2005) 8 SCC 618. He
       also relied upon Fuerst Day Lawson Limited vs. Jindal Exports
 D     Limited, (2011) 8 SCC 333 for the proposition that the Act is a self-
       contained Code as a result of which not only would second appeals be
       interdicted expressly under Section 37(2) of the Act but appeals filed
       under the Letters Patent would also be so interdicted. He was at pains
       to point out that even under Section 115 C.P.C. as amended, a revision
       would lie only in cases where no appeal lies, and under the proviso
 E     inserted with effect from 2002, no revision petition would be maintainable
       against interlocutory orders. He then took us through the impugned
       judgment, and stated that the observations made on merits were
       themselves erroneous and that “serious disputes as to jurisdiction” would
       not amount to lack of jurisdiction. He also stated that, at best, there
       can be stated to be a mere error of law, which could not, in any case,
 F
       be interfered with under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.
              9. Mr. K.M. Nataraj, learned Additional Solicitor General
       appearing on behalf of the respondent, took us through the facts and
       was at pains to point out that under the relevant clause of the contract,
       which is Clause 27.1, the notice invoking the arbitration must specify
 G
       all points of dispute with the details of the amount claimed at the time
       of invocation of arbitration and not thereafter. He stressed the fact that
       even a cursory reading of the notice dated 02.11.2017 would show that
       it was confined to illegal termination and did not raise any plea as to
       the ban that was imposed for two years. He further went on to
 H     distinguish the SBP & Co. (supra) stating that it only applied at a stage
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                              1003
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

where an order of the Arbitral Tribunal was sought to be interfered           A
with directly under Article 226/227, in which context the seven-Judge
bench made its observations. The present is a case where the Tribunal’s
orders had travelled to the first appellate court, which appeal was then
dismissed, as a result of which the first appellate court’s order came
directly under the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court under Article
                                                                              B
227. He then referred to Punjab Agro Industries Corporation
Limited vs. Kewal Singh Dhillon, (2008) 10 SCC 128 which is a
judgment which distinguished SBP & Co. (supra) in a case in which
an article 227 petition was held to be maintainable against an order
rejecting a Section 11 application for appointment of an Arbitrator. He
then referred to several judgments stating that the power under Article       C
227, though to be sparingly exercised, can certainly be exercised in
cases of patent lack of jurisdiction, and that the present case is one
such. He then defended the judgment under appeal stating that the
judgment under appeal correctly held that in the circumstances of the
present case no stay order could possibly have been granted by the
                                                                              D
Arbitrator under Section 17 on the basis of fundamental principles
contained in the Specific Relief Act, in that damages could always be
granted, and that therefore, the injunction granted in the facts of the
present case should have been denied.
      10. Having heard learned counsel for both parties, it is first
                                                                              E
necessary to set out certain provisions of the Arbitration & Conciliation
Act, 1996.
      Section 5 states:-
      “5. Extent of judicial intervention.- Notwithstanding anything
      contained in any other law for the time being in force, in matters      F
      governed by this Part, no judicial authority shall intervene except
      where so provided in this Part.”
      Section 37 which is also material states as follows:-
      “37. Appealable orders.- (1) An appeal shall lie from the following     G
      orders (and from no others) to the Court authorized by law to
      hear appeals from original decrees of the Court passing the order,
      namely:-
           (a) refusing to refer the parties to arbitration under section
               8;                                                             H
1004            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A                (b) granting or refusing to grant any measure under section
                      9;
                  (c) setting aside or refusing to set aside an arbitral award
                      under section 34.
             (2) An appeal shall also lie to a Court from an order granting of
 B           the arbitral tribunal.-
                  (a) accepting the plea referred in sub-section (2) or sub-
                      section (3) of section 16; or
                  (b) granting or refusing to grant an interim measure under
 C                    section 17.
             (3) No second appeal shall lie from an order passed in appeal
             under this section, but nothing in this section shall affect or take
             away any right to appeal to the Supreme Court.”
              What is also important to note is that under Section 29A of the
 D     Act which was inserted by the Amendment Act, 2016 a time limit was
       made within which arbitral awards must be made, namely, 12 months
       from the date the arbitral tribunal enters upon the reference. Also, it
       is important to note that even so far as Section 34 applications are
       concerned, Section 34(6) added by the same amendment states that
       these applications are to be disposed of expeditiously, and in any event,
 E
       within a period of one year from the date on which the notice referred
       to in sub-section (5) is served upon the other parties.
              11. Given the aforesaid statutory provisions and given the fact
       that the 1996 Act repealed three previous enactments in order that there
       be speedy disposal of all matters covered by it, it is clear that the
 F
       statutory policy of the Act is that not only are time limits set down for
       disposal of the arbitral proceedings themselves but time limits have also
       been set down for Section 34 references to be decided. Equally, in
       Union of India vs. M/s Varindera Const. Ltd., dated 17.09.2018,
       disposing of SLP (C) No. 23155/2013, this Court has imposed the
 G     self-same limitation on first appeals under Section 37 so that there be
       a timely resolution of all matters which are covered by arbitration
       awards.
              12. Most significant of all is the non-obstante clause contained
       in Section 5 which states that notwithstanding anything contained in any
 H     other law, in matters that arise under Part I of the Arbitration Act, no
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                              1005
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

judicial authority shall intervene except where so provided in this Part.     A
Section 37 grants a constricted right of first appeal against certain
judgments and orders and no others. Further, the statutory mandate
also provides for one bite at the cherry, and interdicts a second appeal
being filed (See Section 37(2) of the Act)
       13. This being the case, there is no doubt whatsoever that if          B
petitions were to be filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution
against orders passed in appeals under Section 37, the entire arbitral
process would be derailed and would not come to fruition for many
years. At the same time, we cannot forget that Article 227 is a
constitutional provision which remains untouched by the non-obstante
                                                                              C
clause of Section 5 of the Act. In these circumstances, what is
important to note is that though petitions can be filed under Article 227
against judgments allowing or dismissing first appeals under Section 37
of the Act, yet the High Court would be extremely circumspect in
interfering with the same, taking into account the statutory policy as
adumbrated by us herein above so that interference is restricted to           D
orders that are passed which are patently lacking in inherent jurisdiction.
       14. In Nivedita Sharma vs. Cellular Operators Association
of India and Others, (2011) 14 SCC 337, this Court referred to several
judgments and held:
      “11. We have considered the respective arguments/submissions.           E
      There cannot be any dispute that the power of the High Courts
      to issue directions, orders or writs including writs in the nature
      of habeas corpus, certiorari, mandamus, quo warranto and
      prohibition under Article 226 of the Constitution is a basic feature
      of the Constitution and cannot be curtailed by parliamentary            F
      legislation - L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997) 3 SCC
      261. However, it is one thing to say that in exercise of the power
      vested in it under Article 226 of the Constitution, the High Court
      can entertain a writ petition against any order passed by or action
      taken by the State and/or its agency/instrumentality or any public
      authority or order passed by a quasi-judicial body/authority, and       G
      it is an altogether different thing to say that each and every
      petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution must be
      entertained by the High Court as a matter of course ignoring the
      fact that the aggrieved person has an effective alternative
      remedy. Rather, it is settled law that when a statutory forum is        H
1006            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A           created by law for redressal of grievances, a writ petition should
             not be entertained ignoring the statutory dispensation.
              12. In Thansingh Nathmal v. Superintendent of Taxes AIR
       1964 SC 1419, this Court adverted to the rule of self-imposed restraint
       that the writ petition will not be entertained if an effective remedy is
 B     available to the aggrieved person and observed:
             “7… The High Court does not therefore act as a court of appeal
             against the decision of a court or tribunal, to correct errors of
             fact, and does not by assuming jurisdiction under Article 226
             trench upon an alternative remedy provided by statute for
 C           obtaining relief. Where it is open to the aggrieved petitioner to
             move another tribunal, or even itself in another jurisdiction for
             obtaining redress in the manner provided by a statute, the High
             Court normally will not permit by entertaining a petition under
             Article 226 of the Constitution the machinery created under the
             statute to be bypassed, and will leave the party applying to it to
 D
             seek resort to the machinery so set up.”
            13. In Titaghur Paper Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of Orissa (1983)
       2 SCC 433, this court observed:
             “11. It is now well recognised that where a right or liability is
 E           created by a statute which gives a special remedy for enforcing
             it, the remedy provided by that statute only must be availed of.
             This rule was stated with great clarity by Willes, J. in
             Wolverhampton New Waterworks Co. v. Hawkesford (1859)
             6 CBNS 336 : 141 ER 486 in the following passage: ’... ‘… There
             are three classes of cases in which a liability may be established
 F
             founded upon a statute .... But there is a third class, viz., where
             a liability not existing at common law is created by a statute
             which at the same time gives a special and particular remedy
             for enforcing it. .... The remedy provided by the statute must be
             followed, and it is not competent to the party to pursue the course
 G           applicable to cases of the second class. The form given by the
             statute must be adopted and adhered to.’
             The rule laid down in this passage was approved by the House
             of Lords in Neville v. London Express Newspapers Ltd. 1919
             AC 368 : (1918-19) 10 All ER Rep. 61 (HL) and has been
 H           reaffirmed by the Privy Council in Attorney General of Trinidad
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                               1007
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

      and Tobago v. Gordon Grant and Co. Ltd 1935 AC 532 (PC)                  A
      and Secy. of State v. Mask and Co. (1939-40) 67 IA 222 : AIR
      1940 PC 105. It has also been held to be equally applicable to
      enforcement of rights, and has been followed by this Court
      throughout. The High Court was therefore justified in dismissing
      the writ petitions in limine.”
                                                                               B
      14. In Mafatlal Industries Ltd. v. Union of India (1997) 5 SCC
536, B.P. Jeevan Reddy, J. (speaking for the majority of the larger
Bench) observed:
      “77. … So far as the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article
      226 - or for that matter, the jurisdiction of this Court under Article   C
      32 - is concerned, it is obvious that the provisions of the Act
      cannot bar and curtail these remedies. It is, however, equally
      obvious that while exercising the power under Article 226/Article
      32, the Court would certainly take note of the legislative intent
      manifested in the provisions of the Act and would exercise their
      jurisdiction consistent with the provisions of the enactment.”           D
      15. In the judgments relied upon by Shri Vaidyanathan, which,
      by and large, reiterate the proposition laid down in Baburam
      Prakash Chandra Maheshwari v. Antarim Zila Parishad AIR
      1969 SC 556, it has been held that an alternative remedy is not
      a bar to the entertaining of writ petition filed for the enforcement     E
      of any of the fundamental rights or where there has been a
      violation of the principles of natural justice or where the order
      under challenge is wholly without jurisdiction or the vires of the
      statute is under challenge.
      16. It can, thus, be said that this Court has recognised some            F
      exceptions to the rule of alternative remedy. However, the
      proposition laid down in Thansingh Nathmal v. Superintendent
      of Taxes (supra) and other similar judgments that the High Court
      will not entertain a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution
      if an effective alternative remedy is available to the aggrieved
      person or the statute under which the action complained of has           G
      been taken itself contains a mechanism for rederssal of grievance
      still holds the field.”
      In SBP & Co. (supra), this Court while considering interference
with an order passed by an arbitral tribunal under Article 226/227 of
the Constitution laid down as follows:-                                        H
1008            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A           “45. It is seen that some High Courts have proceeded on the
             basis that any order passed by an arbitral tribunal during
             arbitration, would be capable of being challenged under Article
             226 or 227 of the Constitution. We see no warrant for such an
             approach. Section 37 makes certain orders of the arbitral tribunal
 B           appealable. Under Section 34, the aggrieved party has an avenue
             for ventilating his grievances against the award including any in-
             between orders that might have been passed by the arbitral
             tribunal acting under Section 16 of the Act. The party aggrieved
             by any order of the arbitral tribunal, unless has a right of appeal
             under Section 37 of the Act, has to wait until the award is
 C           passed by the Tribunal. This appears to be the scheme of the
             Act. The arbitral tribunal is, after all, a creature of a contract
             between the parties, the arbitration agreement, even though, if
             the occasion arises, the Chief Justice may constitute it based on
             the contract between the parties. But that would not alter the
 D           status of the arbitral tribunal. It will still be a forum chosen by
             the parties by agreement. We, therefore, disapprove of the stand
             adopted by some of the High Courts that any order passed by
             the arbitral tribunal is capable of being corrected by the High
             Court under Article 226 or 227 of the Constitution. Such an
             intervention by the High Courts is not permissible.
 E
             46. The object of minimizing judicial intervention while the matter
             is in the process of being arbitrated upon, will certainly be
             defeated if the High Court could be approached under Article
             227 or under Article 226 of the Constitution against every order
             made by the arbitral tribunal. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate
 F           that once the arbitration has commenced in the arbitral tribunal,
             parties have to wait until the award is pronounced unless, of
             course, a right of appeal is available to them under Section 37
             of the Act even at an earlier stage.”
              While the learned Additional Solicitor General is correct in stating
 G
       that this statement of the law does not directly apply on the facts of
       the present case, yet it is important to notice that the seven-Judge
       Bench has referred to the object of the Act being that of minimizing
       judicial intervention and that this important object should always be kept
       in the forefront when a 227 petition is being disposed of against
 H     proceedings that are decided under the Act.
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                            1009
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

        15. It is true that in Punjab Agro Industries Corporation           A
Limited (supra), this Court distinguished SBP & Co. (supra) stating
that it will not apply to a case of a non-appointment of an Arbitrator.
This Court held:
      “9. We have already noticed that though the order under Section
      11(4) is a judicial order, having regard to Section 11(7) relating    B
      to finality of such orders and the absence of any provision for
      appeal, the order of the Civil Judge was open to challenge in a
      writ petition under Article 227 of the Constitution. The decision
      in SBP & Co. does not bar such a writ petition. The
      observations of this Court in SBP & Co. that against an order
                                                                            C
      under Section 11 of the Act, only an appeal under Article 136 of
      the Constitution would lie, is with reference to the orders made
      by the Chief Justice of a High Court or by the designate Judge
      of that High Court. The said observations do not apply to a
      subordinate court functioning as designate of the Chief Justice.”
                                                                            D
       What is important to note is that the observations of this Court
in this judgment were for the reason that no provision for appeal had
been given by statute against the orders passed under Section 11, which
is why the High Court’s supervisory jurisdiction should first be invoked
before coming to this Court under Article 136. Given the facts of the
present case, this case is equally distinguishable for the reason that in   E
this case the 227 jurisdiction has been exercised by the High Court only
after a first appeal was dismissed under Section 37 of the Act.
       16. One other feature of this case is of some importance. As
stated herein above, on 09.05.2018, a Section 16 application had been
dismissed by the learned Arbitrator in which substantially the same         F
contention which found favour with the High Court was taken up. The
drill of Section 16 of the Act is that where a Section 16 application is
dismissed, no appeal is provided and the challenge to the Section 16
application being dismissed must await the passing of a final award at
which stage it may be raised under Section 34. What the High Court
has done in the present case is to invert this statutory scheme by going    G
into exactly the same matter as was gone into by the arbitrator in the
Section 16 application, and then decided that the two year ban was no
part of the notice for arbitration issued on 02.11.2017, a finding which
is directly contrary to the finding of the learned Arbitrator dismissing
the Section 16 application. For this reason alone, the judgment under       H
1010             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A     appeal needs to be set aside. Even otherwise, as has been correctly
       pointed out by Mr. Rohatgi, the judgment under appeal goes into the
       merits of the case and states that the action of putting the Contractor
       and his Directors “on holiday” is not a consequence of the termination
       of the agreement. This is wholly incorrect as it is only because of the
       termination that the show cause notice dated 18.10.2017 proposing to
 B
       impose a two year ban was sent. Even otherwise, entering into the
       general thicket of disputes between the parties does not behove a court
       exercising jurisdiction under Article 227, where only jurisdictional errors
       can be corrected. Therefore to state that the ban order was passed
       under a General Contract Manual and not Clause 18 of the Agreement,
 C     besides being incorrect, would also be incorrect for the reason that the
       General Contract Manual does not mean that such order was issued
       as an administrative order invoking the executive power, but was only
       as an order which emanated from the contract itself. Further to state
       that “serious disputes” as to jurisdiction seem to have cropped up is
       not the same thing as saying that the Arbitral Tribunal lacked inherent
 D
       jurisdiction in going into and deciding the Section 17 application. In point
       of fact, the Arbitral Tribunal was well within its jurisdiction in referring
       to the contract and the ban order and then applying the law and finally
       issuing the stay order. Even if it be accepted that the principle laid
       down by Section 41(e) of the Specific Relief Act was infracted, in that
 E     damages could have been granted, as a result of which an injunction
       ought not to have been issued, is a mere error of law and not an error
       of jurisdiction, much less an error of inherent jurisdiction going to the
       root of the matter. Therefore, even otherwise, the High Court judgment
       cannot be sustained and is set aside.
 F            17. We reiterate that the policy of the Act is speedy disposal of
       arbitration cases. The Arbitration Act is a special act and a self contained
       code dealing with arbitration.This Court in Fuerst Day Lawson Limited
       (supra), has specifically held as follows:
             “89. It is, thus, to be seen that Arbitration Act, 1940, from its
 G           inception and right through to 2004 (in P.S. Sathappan v. Andha
             Bank Ltd., (2004) 11 SCC 672 was held to be a self-contained
             code. Now, if the Arbitration Act, 1940 was held to be a self-
             contained code, on matters pertaining to arbitration, the Arbitration
             and Conciliation Act, 1996, which consolidates, amends and
             designs the law relating to arbitration to bring it, as much as
 H           possible, in harmony with the UNCITRAL Model must be held
  M/S DEEP INDUSTRIES LIMITED v. OIL AND NATURAL                               1011
 GAS CORPORATION LIMITED & ANR. [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

      only to be more so. Once it is held that the Arbitration Act is a        A
      self-contained code and exhaustive, then it must also be held, using
      the lulcid expression of Tulzapurkar,J., that it carries with it “a
      negative import that only ‘such acts as are mentioned in the Act
      are permissible to be done and acts or things not mentioned therein
      are not permissible to be done”. In other words, a letters patent
      appeal would be excluded by the application of one of the general        B
      principles that where the special Act sets out a self-contained
      code the applicability of the general law procedure would be
      impliedly excluded.”

       What becomes clear is that had the High Court itself disposed
                                                                               C
of the first appeal in the present case, no article 227 petition could
possibly lie - all that could perhaps have been done was to file an LPA
before a Division Bench of the same High Court. This, as we have
seen, has specifically been interdicted by Fuerst Day Lawson Limited
(supra). Merely because, on the facts of this case, the first appeal was
disposed of by a court subordinate to the High Court, an article 227           D
petition ought not to have been entertained.

      18. Mr. Rohatgi is also correct in pointing out that the legislative
policy qua the general revisional jurisdiction that is contained by the
amendments made to Section 115 C.P.C. should also be kept in mind              E
when High Courts dispose of petitions filed under under article 227.
The legislative policy is that no revision lies if an alternative remedy of
appeal is available. Further, even when a revision does lie, it lies only
against a final disposal of the entire matter and not against interlocutory
orders. These amendments were considered in Tek Singh vs. Shashi
Verma and Another, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 168 in which this Court                  F
adverted to these amendments and then stated:

      7. A reading of this proviso will show that, after 1999, revision
      petitions filed under Section 115 CPC are not maintainable against
      interlocutory orders.                                                    G
      8. Even otherwise, it is well settled that the revisional jurisdiction
      under Section 115 CPC is to be exercised to correct jurisdictional
      errors only. This is well settled. In D.L.F. Housing &
      Construction Company Private Ltd., New Delhi v. Sarup Singh
      and Others (1970) 2 SCR 368 this Court held:                             H
1012                SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2019] 17 S.C.R.


 A             “The position thus seems to be firmly established that while
               exercising the jurisdiction under Section 115, it is not competent
               to the High Court to correct errors of fact however gross or even
               errors of law unless the said errors have relation to the jurisdiction
               of the Court to try the dispute itself. Clauses (a) and (b) of this
               section on their plain reading quite clearly do not cover the
 B
               present case. It was not contended, as indeed it was not possible
               to contend, that the learned Additional District Judge had either
               exercised a jurisdiction not vested in him by law or had failed to
               exercise a jurisdiction so vested in him, in recording the order
               that the proceedings under reference be stayed till the decision
 C             of the appeal by the High Court in the proceedings for specific
               performance of the agreement in question. Clause (c) also does
               not seem to apply to the case in hand. The words “illegally” and
               “with material irregularity” as used in this clause do not cover
               either errors of fact or of law; they do not refer to the decision
               arrived at but merely to the manner in which it is reached. The
 D
               errors contemplated by this clause may, in our view, relate either
               to breach of some provision of law or to material defects of
               procedure affecting the ultimate decision, and not to errors either
               of fact or of law, after the prescribed formalities have been
               complied with. The High Court does not seem to have adverted
 E             to the limitation imposed on its power under Section 115 of the
               Code. Merely because the High Court would have felt inclined,
               had it dealt with the matter initially, to come to a different
               conclusion on the question of continuing stay of the reference
               proceedings pending decision of the appeal, could hardly justify
               interference on revision under Section 115 of the Code when
 F
               there was no illegality or material irregularity committed by the
               learned Additional District Judge in his manner of dealing with
               this question. It seems to us that in this matter the High Court
               treated the revision virtually as if it was an appeal.” at Pg.373
             19. For all these reasons, the appeal stands allowed with no order
 G     as to costs. Accordingly, the arbitration proceedings may now be
       disposed of as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with the mandate
       contained in the Act.


       Nidhi Jain                                                      Appeal allowed.
 H