JUDGMENT :

J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Mr. Ruchir Patel, the learned counsel waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondents except the respondent no. 7 who is dead and gone.

2. By this application under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the applicant calls in question the legality and validity of the order passed by the 2nd Additional District Judge, Dahod dated 22.10.2019 below Exh.7 in the Civil Misc. Application No. 45 of 2019, by which, the Court below declined to hear the Civil Misc. Application preferred by the applicant herein under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 [for short ‘The Act 1996’] on the ground that it had no jurisdiction to hear and entertain such application. The Court below returned the application preferred by the applicant to be presented before the Court of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Dahod.

3. The facts giving rise to this application may be summarized as under:

3.1 The applicant herein preferred an application under Section 9 of the Act 1996 in the Court of the District Judge a