JUDGMENT :

RAJANI DUBEY, J.

1. The Appellant-State filed this arbitration appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1966 (for short ‘the Act, 1966’) read with Section 13 of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Court Act, 2015 (for short “the Act of 2015”) against order dated 11.07.2023 passed by the learned Commercial Court (District Level), Naya Raipur in MJC No.23/2022, whereby the application preferred by the appellant herein under Section 34 against the arbitral award dated 18.07.2022 passed by the learned Sole Arbitrator was challenged and the learned Trial Court returned the original petition with documents holding that the learned Commercial Court has no jurisdiction to decide the case under Section 34 of the Act, 1966.

2. Brief facts of the case are that the applicant and a joint venture comprising SMEC India Pty. Limited and SMEC International Private Limited had entered into a contract for providing consultancy services in relation to the project of construction, supervision, rehabilitation, and up-gradation of Group ‘A’ Roads in Raipur. The total contract value was Rs.25,06,90,736/- and USD 3,16,822/-, inclusive of service tax at the then prevailing rate