In the case of Fountain Head Developers, the Full Bench has held that the District Judge in a district alone is the principal Court of original civil jurisdiction and it is not included in other Judge subordinate to him. It is also held that "The Parliament intended to have only one court as the forum for arbitral proceedings, that is, the "principal court of original jurisdiction" in a district". This ratio laid down by the Full Bench in Fountain Head Developers cannot be misread that the District Judge or the District Court means only a Court of Principal District Judge. It appears that the order of the Division Bench of Nagpur Bench in The Akola Janata Commercial Cooperative Bank Ltd. which is very relevant and useful, was not placed before the Hon'ble Single Judge and therefore, he had no opportunity to consider this aspect from the other prospective.
24. In the case of The Akola Janata Commercial Cooperative Bank Ltd. (supra), the Division Bench of Nagpur has held that
"The word "Court" occurring in Section 36 must be held to be a Court of District Judge also for the purpose of enforcement of the award. It further held that "From a conjoint reading of these provisions, it is clear that an award must be treated as a decree passed by the District Judge and, therefore, it may be executed either by the District Judge himself or by any Court to which it may be sent by such District Judge for execution vide Section 38 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The transfer of decree by the District Judge would be governed by Section 39 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Thus, a decree holder must apply for execution of an award to the Court of District Judge, who may either execute the award as a decree himself or send it for execution to another Court including a subordinate Court of competent jurisdiction."
Thus, the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction has a wider connotation which includes Principal District Judge and so also of the District Judges, who collectively fall under the category of Judges having principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction. Hence, the challenge given cannot sustain. Writ Petition is dismissed.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
Writ Petition No. 4157 of 2017
Decided On: 12.04.2017
Union of India Vs. Arun Kumar Deedwania
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Mridula Bhatkar, J.
Citation: 2017(4) MHLJ131
