Arjun and Reyansh entered into a business agreement containing an arbitration clause. Later, a dispute arose between them and Ramesh filed a civil suit in a District Court. Upon receiving notice of the suit, Reyansh appl

Section 8(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 provides that a judicial authority, before which an action is brought in a matter which is the subject of an arbitration agreement shall, if a party to the arbitration agreement or any person claiming through or under him, so applies not later than the date of submitting his first statement on the substance of the dispute, then, notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of the Supreme Court or any Court, refer the parties to arbitration unless it finds that prima facie no valid arbitration agreement exists. Further sub-section (2) states that the application referred to in sub-section (1) shall not be entertained unless it is accompanied by the original arbitration agreement or a duly certified copy thereof. It may be noted that where the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy thereof is not available with the party applying for reference to arbitration under sub-section (1), and the said agreement or certified copy is retained by the other party to that agreement, then, the party so applying shall file such application along with a copy of the arbitration agreement and a petition praying the Court to call upon the other party to produce the original arbitration agreement or its duly certified copy before that Court. Sub-section (3) states that notwithstanding that an application has been made under sub-section (1) and that the issue is pending before the judicial authority, arbitration may be commenced or continued and an arbitral award made. In the given situation, since the application by Reyansh was filed before the submission of the first statement on the substance of the dispute, the arbitration clause is admitted to exist, and a photocopy of the agreement was filed along with a request to direct the other party to produce the original. Therefore, in view of Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the judicial authority may refer the matter to arbitration.