BHASKAR BHATTACHARYA, J.

( 1 ) THE judgment of the Court was as follows : this revisional application under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is at the instance of an applicant under Section 34 of the Arbitration and conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and by this application the petitioner has challenged the jurisdiction of an Additional district Judge to entertain such application.

( 2 ) THE present petitioner filed an application for setting aside an award under Section 34 of the Act before the learned District Judge, North 24-Parganas at Barasat thereby giving rise to Misc. Case No. 229 of 2003. The case has been transferred to the Court of Additional District Judge, Fast track Court No. 3 at Barasat for disposal by virtue of power conferred upon the District Judge under the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887 (hereinafter referred to as the 1887 Act ).

( 3 ) MR. Mukherjee, the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has raised a pure question of law regarding jurisdiction. According to Mr. Mukherjee, in view of definition of 'court' given in the Act, only the principal Court of Civil Jurisdiction in the District, namely, the District Judge is competent to entertain an application under Section 34 of the Act. Mr. Mukherjee contends that a Court of Additional District Judge is Civil Court of a grade inferior to the Principal Civil Court of the District and as such, the said Additional District Judge cannot entertain such an application under section 34 of the Act.

( 4 ) THE aforesaid contention of Mr. Mukherjee has been seriously disputed by Mr. Kundu, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the Opposite party. According to Mr. Kundu, the District Judges and the Additional District judges are appointed by virtue of the provisions of Article 233 of the constitution of India. According to Mr. Kundu, in view of the provisions contained in Article 236 of the Constitution of India, the expression 'district judge' includes an Additional District Judge and as such the Additional District judge is also the Principal Civil Court of Original Jurisdiction in the District. He, thus, prays for dismissal of this application.

( 5 ) TO appreciate the question raised by Mr. Mukherjee, it will be expedient to refer to the definition of 'court given in Section 2 (c), and also sections 47, 56 and 42 of the Act relied upon by Mr. Mukherjee and those are quoted below :- "section 2 (c) "court" means the Principal Civil Court of Original jurisdiction in a District, and includes the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject-matter of the arbitration if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit, but does not include any Civil court of a grade inferior to such Principal Civil Court, or any Court of small Causes, section 47-EVIDENCE, (1) The party applying for the enforcement of a foreign award shall, at the time of the application, produce before the Court- (a) the original award or a copy thereof, duly authenticated in the manner required by the law of the country in which it was made, (b) the original agreement for arbitration or a duly certified copy thereof, and (c) such evidence as may be necessary to prove that the award is a foreign award. (2) If the award or agreement to be produced under sub-section (1) is in a foreign language, the party seeking to enforce the award shall produce a translation into English certified as correct by a diplomatic or consular agent of the country to which that party belongs or certified as correct in such other manner as may be sufficient according to the law in force in India. Explanation : In this section and all the following sections of this Chapter, "court means the Principal Civil Court of Original jurisdiction in a District, and includes the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction over the subject-matter of

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