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The Kerala High Court held that an Additional District Judge has jurisdiction to entertain a petition filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.
Principal District Judge can only be considered first among equals and the Additional District Judge is in no way considered to be inferior to the Principal District Judge, the bench comprising Justices CT Ravikumar and K. Haripal observed.
The court observed thus while dismissing an Arbitration Appeal. One of the contentions raised in this Appeal was that an Additional District Judge lacks authority to entertain a petition under Section 34 of the Act. According to the appellant, the matter ought to have been considered by the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction of the District, which is the Principal District Court. Referring to Section 2(e) of the Act, he submitted that court means only principal civil court of original jurisdiction in a district.