HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LTD. vs KRA INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPERS PVT. LTD.

Judgment text excerpt

$~3 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 08th July, 2025 + CM(M) 495/2025&CM APPL. 15346/2025 HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LTD......Petitioner Through: Mr. Shashank Garg, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Arjun Jain, Ms. Anushree Narain, Mr. Vipin Chaudhary and Ms. Nishtha Jain, Advocates. versus KRA INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPERS PVT. LTD. .....Respondent Through: Mr. R. Gupta, Advocate. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN J U D G M E N T (oral) 1. Petitioner challenges order dated 24.02.2025 passed by the learned Arbitral Tribunal whereby their application moved under Section 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been dismissed. 2. The sole grievance of the petitioner herein is to the effect that, even if, the respondent i.e. claimant was a small enterprise, registered under Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (MSME Act), the contract in question, being a works contract, was outside the scope and ambit of MSME Act and such aspect has not been considered and answered by the learned Arbitral Tribunal. 3. Learned Senior Counsel for petitioner submits that since the question of jurisdiction goes to the root of the matter, the petitioner has no other option but to knock the doors of this Court by invoking supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of Constitution of India. 4. This Court has gone through the order under challenge and it is noticed that the petition has been dismissed while making certain observations, as Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed CM(M) 495/2025 1 By:SONIA THAPLIYAL Signing Date:11.07.2025 10:52:10 appearing in Para 19 of the impugned order. 5. Evidently, there is no discussion about the aforesaid important aspect i.e whether a works contract is excluded from the scope of MSME Act or not? 6. Lear