Arbitration jurisdiction clauses must be strictly construed, and parties are bound to their agreements regarding the venue for arbitration.

1. The present application has been taken out by the petitioner under S.9, S.11 and S.12 of the Arbitration Act for removal of the sole Arbitrator and appointment of a new one in his place and stead under the circumstances as follows : -
It is alleged by the petitioner that she entered into four contracts with the respondent on 2-6-1973, 21-6-1974, 6-9-1974, 16-12-1974 for supply of polythene Lined Jute Bags. Each of the said contract contained an arbitration clause. These contracts are admitted by the respondent. The petitioner further alleged that the respondent issued purchase orders pursuant to the said contracts from within the jurisdiction arid the same were received by the petitioner at No. 6, Nawab Dilarjung Road, Calcutta outside the jurisdiction of this Court. The said facts are not disputed by the respondent. The petitioner supplied some goods and manufactured some for giving delivery but the respondent did not pay the full price of the goods delivered and also wrongfully failed and neglected to take the delivery of the balance goods. Thereupon disputes and differences arose between the parties. The arbitration clause provided that the disputes will be referred to an agreed arbitrator. If, however, parties fail to agree then both the parties will appoint one arbitrator each and the disputes will be referred to the joint arbitrators. It is alleged that on account of the failure of the respondent to agree to an arbitrator, the petitioner appointed her arbitrator and gave notice to the respondent for appointing its arbitrator. The respondent failed to comply with the said notice. The petitioner then appointed his own arbitrator as the sole arbitrator and the sole arbitrator entered upon the reference and served notice on the respondent. At that juncture, the respondent objected and asked the arbitrator not to proceed in the matter. The petitioner, however, repeatedly called upon the arbitrator to proceed with the reference but the arbitrator failed and neglected to proceed in the matter. Hence this application.

2. The only point pressed by the respondent in this application is the jurisdiction clause contained in the contracts which is set out below: -
"The contract shall be deemed to have been entered into at Gorakhpur and all causes of action in relation to the contract will thus be deemed to have arisen only within the jurisdiction of Gorakhpur Court."

3. It is contended on behalf of the respondent that on account of this jurisdiction clause the petitioner is not entitled to move the present application in this Court. In support of his contention, the respondent's counsel cited AIR 1977 Cal 20 and (1980) 84 Cal WN 79. The petitioner does not dispute the existence of the jurisdiction clauses in the agreements but submits that these clauses only refer to filing of the suits and have nothing to do with arbitration matters. In AIR 1977 Cal 20 , the jurisdiction clause was : -
"That in case any legal proceeding are instituted against the plant, they shall be instituted in the appropriate Civil Court of Durg (District)"
In that case both Durg and the Assansol Courts had jurisdiction to entertain an application under S.9, S.31 and S.33 of the Arbitration Act and such an application was made in the Court at Assansol. The jurisdiction clause was agitated and the matter went up to the Supreme Court. It was held relying on AIR 1971 SC 740 that in view of the aforesaid agreement between the parties, such an application in the Assansol Court was not maintainable. In (1980) 84 Cal WN 79, the jurisdiction clause was :
"All civil suits in connection with this purchase ord