K.R.Shriram, J.

1. Plaintiff and defendant no.1 had entered into a contract whereby plaintiff gave a work order to defendant no.1 for laying of RCC sewer pipeline by micro tunneling method. During the work process, the machine of defendant no.1 got stuck and it was plaintiff's case that the machine was defective and plaintiff itself completed the work. Thereafter, plaintiff received an invoice dated 12th October 2017 from defendant no.1 claiming Rs.62,38,138.87/-.

2. On 13th October 2017 defendant no.1, who is a contractor registered under the provisions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (MSME Act), also lodged a claim with defendant no. 2. Defendant no.2 is a Council constituted by the State of Gujarat under the MSME Act. Defendant no.1 referred its disputes against plaintiff to defendant no.2 under Section 18 of the MSME Act. Apart from its unpaid invoice, defendant no. 1 has also claimed against plaintiff a sum of Rs.65,09,739/- as damages.

Plaintiff responded to the Council through its advocate's letter dated 26th October 2017, inter alia, stating that (a) the Council has no jurisdiction and (b) the claim of plaintiff is barred by limitatio