THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.1582 of 2011 Date of Order:17.06.2011 Between: Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Rep. by its Authorized Officer. ..Petitioner and Maganti Subramanyam. ..Respondent The Court made the following Order: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.1582 of 2011 ORDER :- Petitioner/defendant filed this revision under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, questioning the orders passed by III Additional Senior Civil Judge, Vijayawada, dated 30.03.2011, in dismissing I.A.No.355 of 2009 in O.S.No.516 of 2009 filed under Order VII Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (for short, “CPC”) for rejection of the plaint. Respondent/plaintiff filed the present suit for eviction of the defendant from the plaint schedule property and for recovery of arrears of rent, damages for use and occupation and value of the property damaged etc. It is not in dispute that under the lease agreement entered between the parties, dated 01.12.2003, both the parties shall resolve the dispute by way of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short, “the Act”), under Article 23 of the lease agreement. There is no dispute that the petitioner lessee terminated the lease agreement by a notice, dated 09.04.2007, and the same was accepted by the respondent/plaintiff. Since the petitioner failed to deliver the possession on termination of the lease deed, the impugned suit came to be filed. In the said suit, the petitioner filed the present application for rejection of the plaint contending that in view of the arbitration clause under the lease deed, the suit is not maintainable and the same has to be rejected. Section 8 of the Act provides power to refer parties to arbitration, where there is an arbitration agreement, which reads that a judicial authority before which an action is brought in a matter, which is the subject matter of an arbitration agreement shall, if a party so applies not later than submitting his first statement on the substance of the dispute, refer the parties to arbitration. Sub Section (2) of Section 8 of the Act also provides such an application shall not be entertained unless it is accompanied by an original arbitration agreement or a duly certified copy thereof. The lease agreement no where bars the jurisdiction of the civil court to entertain a civil suit. Under Section 9 of C.P.C., the civil court will have jurisdiction to entertain all suits instituted before it. Rejection of the plaint is covered under Order VII Rule 11 (a) of the Act, where the plaint does not disclose a cause of action. Under Rule 11(d) where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law. It is not brought to the notice that the suit is barred by any law to be entertained by the civil court except refer the matter to the arbitrator when an application is filed under Section 8 of the Act. It is always open for the petitioner to file an application under Section 8 of the Act for referring the matter to the arbitrator. If such an application is filed, it is quiet incumbent upon the lower court to refer the matter to the arbitrator irrespective of the fact that the petitioner is set ex parte on 07.06.2011. This court by order, dated 24.05.2011, already directed the lower court not to pass any final order against the petitioner in the default of his not filing the written statement on 30.05.2011. In view of the same, the order passed by the lower court setting the petitioner ex parte on 07.06.2011 is contrary to the order passed by this Court and the same is accordingly set aside. If the petitioner files an application within one week from today under Section 8 of the Act, the lower court shall consider the same for referring the matter either to the Arbitrator or to the Legal Services Authority. The Civil Revision Petition is, accordingly, disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________ A.GOPAL REDDY, J June 17, 2011 Lmv THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.1582 of 2011 Date of Order:17.06.2011