1. The finding on the maintainability in O.P.(Arb.) No. 167/2010 filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is impugned. The petitioner relies on Ext. P10 Broker Contract which contains the following Clause:-

“Arbitration - AFI”

The maintainability is challenged on the ground that only arbitration by the Association of Food Industries (AFI) can be resorted to by the parties. It is the case of the petitioner that Part I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is therefore excluded by implication. Reliance is placed on the following decisions for this purpose:-

i) Videocon Industries Limited v. Union of India And Another [(2011) 6 Supreme Court Cases 161]

ii) Sakuma Exports Ltd. v. Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse S.A. [ 2014 STPL (Web) 219 SC]

iii) Reliance Industries Limited & Anr. v. Union of India [2014 STPL(Web) 402 SC]

It is the contention of the petitioner that the seat of the arbitration is at New York and that only New York state laws apply in the instant case. Moreover the arbitrator under the AFI rules has already answered the question regarding the law in the award passed abroad ex-parte. Therefore invocation of Section 34 fallin