JUDGMENT: (PER D.K.DESHMUKH, J.)

1. This bench has been constituted by the Hon'ble The Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court for answering the following question:- “When a petition is filed challenging an Award under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,1996, under which Article of the Bombay Court fees Act 1959, the court fees would be payable ?”

2. The necessity of constituting a larger bench for consideration of this question arose in the following circumstances:-

When the Arbitration Act,1940 (hereinafter referred to as “the 1940 Act”) was in force, a person desiring to challenge an Award under 1940 Act had to apply to the Court under Section 33 of that Act. The term “Court” was defined by Section 2(c) of the 1940 Act, to mean a Civil Court having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject matter of the reference if the same had been the subject matter of a suit. Thus, in so far as the State of Maharashtra is concerned, in the State of Maharashtra excluding Bombay, an application under section 33 of the 1940 Act was to be filed before the Civil Court and so far as the Bombay is concerned, an application to be filed either before this Court or the Ci

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