V.V.S. Rao, J.

This revision petition under Section 115 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), involves an important question as to whether arbitral award passed by the arbitral tribunal as per the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Arbitration Act, for brevity), can be enforced only by the "Court" as defined in Section 2(1)(e) or whether such arbitral award can be enforced or executed by a competent civil Court having territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction to entertain the matter. This requires to be considered in the light of various provisions in different statutes like Section 89 and Order XXI of CPC, A.P. Civil Courts Act, 1972, and Arbitration Act.

2. The background case is as follows.

First respondent (hereafter, D.Hr) filed O.s.No.86 of 1997 on the file of the Court' of Senior Civil Judge, Karimnagar, for recovery of a sum of Rs.5,06,034/- against the petitioner and others (hereafter, J.Drs). In interlocutory application being I.A.No.529 of 1997, the Court below appointed an arbitrator with the consent of the parties.

An award dated 20.10.1998 was passed for an amount Rs.2,40,000/- in favour of D.Hr.

The amount was not paid. Therefore, E.P.No.42 of