( 1 ) A submission has been made on behalf of the judgment Debtor in support of these applications which seek to lead oral evidence in support of the objections (EA. No. 733/03) to the enforcement of the Award dated 19th May, 2003 under Sections 48 and 34 of the arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (in short the `1996 act ), the phrase `furnish proof to the Court in Section 48 (1) would include oral evidence.

( 2 ) SECTION 48 of the 1996 Act reads as follows:-

"48. CONDITIONS for enforcement of foreign awards.- (1) enforcement of a foreign award may be refused, at the request of the party against whom it is invoked, only if that party furnishes to the court proof that__ (a) the parties to the agreement referred to in section 44 were, under the law applicable to them, under some incapacity, or the said agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law of the country where the award was made; or (b) the party against whom the award is invoked was not given proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his case; or (c) the award deals with a difference not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration: provided that, if the decisions on matters submitted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, that part of the award which contains decisions on matters submitted to arbitration may be enforced; or (d) the composition of the arbitral authority or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties, or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where the arbitration took place; or (e) the award has not yet become binding on the parties, or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, that award was made. (2) Enforcement of an arbitral award may also be refused if the court finds that____ (a) the subject-matter of the difference is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the law of India; or (b) the enforcement of the award would be contrary to the public policy of India. Explanation.-Without prejudice to the generality of clause (b) of this section, it is hereby declared, for the avoidance of any doubt, that an award is in conflict with the public policy of India if the making of the award was induced or affected by fraud or corruption. (3) If an application for the setting aside or suspension of the award has been made to a competent authority referred to in clause (e) of sub-section (1) the court may, if it considers it proper, adjourn the decision on the enforcement of the award and may also, on the application of the party claiming enforcement of the award, order the other party to give suitable security. "

( 3 ) ON the strength of the aforesaid plea, it has been contended by Mr. Rajive Sawhney, the learned senior counsel, appearing on behalf of the Judgment Debtor that shri Sushil K. Agrawal and Shri S. S. Agrawal should be permitted to be summoned as witnesses of the judgment debtor/applicant and they should also be permitted to be cross-examined. It is submitted that Shri Sushil Agrawal had filed his affidavit in support of the objections and was a witness of the applicant before the arbitrator like s. S. Agrawal and both of them were cross-examined before the arbitrator. Thus S. K. Agrawal and S. S. Agrawal are required to depose inter alia as witnesses of the applicant as they had personal knowledge of the entire case and can depose in support of the applicant s objections in this Court.

( 4 ) IN reply, Mr. Kapur, the learned senior counsel, appearing on behalf of the decree holder has submitted that the objections (EA. No. 733/03) to the enforcement of the award have already been raised by way