ORDER

R.F. Nariman, J. - Leave granted.

2. The present appeal raises important questions relating to the High Courts 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).

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 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 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 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 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 amendments were granted by the learned Arbitrator on 10.03.2018.

5. Meanwhile, a Section 16 application was before the learned Arbitrator basically on the ground that since the arbitration notice was confined only to termination of the agreement, blacklisting would be outside the Arbitrators 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 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.

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.

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 Arbitrators 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 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 Courts 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 that the petition fi