( 1 ) THE present proceeding is registered on the basis of the petition filed by the petitioner under Sections 14, 17 and 29 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 praying for issuance of a direction to respondent No. 2, the Arbitrator to file the original award dt. 4. 10. 1999 and also for a further direction that on a receipt of the proceedings and the award, the same should be made a rule of the court and a decree be ordered to be drawn in terms thereof.

( 2 ) THE petitioner herein entered into a work contract with respondent No. 1 for construction of t. V. Studio-cum-Office building at Bhopal. The aforesaid agreement also contains an arbitration clause being Clause No. 25, which provides that in case of disputes and differences between the parties to the agreement, the same are required to be adjudicated upon in terms of the said arbitration clause. During execution of the aforesaid work contract, certain disputes arose between the parties and accordingly the petitioner invoked the arbitration clause. The respondent no. 1 appointed Sh. A. C. Panchdhari as the sole arbitrator to decide and make an award on the aforesaid disputes. After the aforesaid appointment, Sh. A. C. Panchdhari entered into the reference and proceeded with the arbitration proceedings. However, before making and publishing the award, Sh. A. C. Panchdhari died and, therefore, the respondent No. 1 Vide their letter dt. 24. 2. 98 appointed Sh. J. S. Lamba, respondent No. 2 herein, as the sole Arbitrator in place of the Arbitrator earlier appointed. Sh. J. S. Lamba, respondent No. 2 considered the disputes and after conclusion of the proceedings made and published his award on 4. 10. 99. In view of the aforesaid position, the present petition is filed in this court seeking for the aforesaid reliefs. In paragraph 9 of the petition, the petitioner has stated that the offices of the parties are situated within the jurisdiction of Delhi Court and that the cause of action To file the present petition has arisen at new Delhi and, therefore, this court can entertain the present petition.

( 3 ) AFTER notice was served on the respondents, respondent No. 1 filed an application in this court under Section 31 of the Arbitration act, 1940 read with Sections 20 and 151 of the, Code of Civil Procedure, which was registered as i. A. No. 957/2001. In the said application the respondent No. 1 has stated that it is a department of Civil Construction wing of Prasar Bharti broadcasting Corporation of India and that the executive Engineer is the authority, who is empowered to sign on behalf of the respondent No. 1 department. It is also stated that after the award was so made and published by the Arbitrator, respondent No. 1 filed an objection under Sections 31 and 33 of the Arbitration Act on 27. 4. 2000 before the Sixth Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division, nagpur, which was registered as Suit No. 317/2000 wherein the respondent No. 1 had challenged the award dt. 4. 10. 99 made and published by the arbitrator. It is further stated that notice on the said suit was issued to the parties for 16. 10. 2000. It is also stated that the aforesaid proceedings rare pending before the Civil Judge at nagpur and that, the original copy of the award has also been filed before the Nagpur Court. It is further stated that the respondent No. 1 has not received any notice from this court in respect of the present proceedings but it had come to know about the present proceedings from the notice received from the Arbitrator, respondent No. 2 herein. In the said application, it is also stated by respondent No. 1 that the Courts at Delhi have no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the present proceedings initiated under Sections 14 and 17 in view of Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure read with Section 31 of the Arbitration Act. It is stated that the agreement was signed at Bombay between the Executive Engineer (E. E.) and the petitioner but the same was transferred to Nagpur electrical