ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED vs SAIF ENERGY LIMITED S — 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABAD

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ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED S. 4---arbitration act (X of 1940), S. 34---Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), O.VII, R.10---Foreign seated arbitration---Information to Court in Pakistan---Procedure---Form or manner in which a party is to inform the Court as to its intention to assert its right to arbitrate is immaterial---Whether an application is captioned as having been filed under S. 34 of arbitration act, 1940; or under S. 4 of Recognition and Enforcement (arbitration agreements and Foreign arbitral awards) act, 2011; or even under O. VII, R. 10, C.P.C., is also immaterial---as long as Court seized of an action is made aware of arbitration agreement between parties and intention of party against whom jurisdiction of Court is invoked to insist on having disputes resolved in accordance with arbitration agreement, it is immaterial whether such party files an application captioned as having been filed under S. 34 of arbitration act, 1940; under S. 4 of Recognition and Enforcement (arbitration agreements and Foreign arbitral awards) act, 2011; or even under O. VII, R. 10, C.P.C. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED Jurisdiction of arbitrator---Principle---While a Court of law derives jurisdiction from statute, the arbitrator derives jurisdiction from the agreement---It is a private procedure established by an agreement between the parties---Parties to such an agreement can vary, amend or waive either expressly or impliedly/by conduct the procedure established by the agreement. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED Court lacking jurisdiction---Effect---Order passed by a Court lacking jurisdiction is coram non judice---If Court has no jurisdiction on the subject matter on which it assumes to act, it has no power to proceed at all---Proceedings of a Court without jurisdiction are a nullity and its order or judgment is without legal effect either on the person or property. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED Forum non conveniens, doctrine of---applicability---Doctrine of forum non conveniens, has no place where contract between parties specifically provides for disputes to be settled through arbitration seated in a foreign country. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED Ss. 3 & 6---Contract Act (IX of 1872), S.28, Exception-1---Foreign seat of arbitration---Party autonomy, principle of---Scope---Domestic and foreign arbitration---Party autonomy is considered as cornerstone of arbitration---There is no prohibition on two Pakistani parties from opting for a foreign seat of arbitration---Foreign seated arbitration and award rendered in such arbitration attracts provisions of Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011 which is premised on the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ("New York Convention")---Geneva Convention on execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1927 ("the Geneva Convention") was expressly limited to agreements to arbitrate between parties that were nationals of different contracting States but this is not so under the New York Convention---All awards, under New York Convention, which may arise out of arbitrations seated in countries that are signatories to that Convention have to be treated as foreign awards---Once parties consciously agreed to a foreign seated arbitration and for arbitration agreement to be governed by English law, it was no longer open to any of them to contend that agreement was void or that award rendered in such arbitration was unenforceable under the provisions of Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011---Provision of Exception-1 to S. 28 of Contract Act, 1872, does not distinguish between domestic and foreign arbitration---Right of parties to have recourse to legal action is not excluded by agreement---Parties are only required to have their disputes adjudicated by having the same referred to arbitration---Merely because agreement provides for a foreign seated arbitration cannot by itself be enough to nullify arbitration agreement when parties have with their eyes open willingly entered into the agreement---Exception to S. 28 of Contract Act, 1872 does not distinguish between domestic and foreign arbitration---Exception to S. 28 of Contract Act, 1872 expressly excepts arbitration from the clutches of S. 28 of Contract Act, 1872 which is an express approval to party autonomy which in turn is the very basis of Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED S. 3(2)---Expression "an application to stay legal proceedings … may be filed in the Court, in which the legal proceedings are pending"---Scope---Where legal proceedings have been brought in High Court, it is the High Court where application under S. 3(2) of Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011 to stay legal proceedings can be filed---When legal proceedings have been brought in a Court other than the High Court, it is the Court in which the legal proceedings have been brought where the application to stay legal proceedings has to be filed, otherwise it would amount to attributing redundancy to the expression "an application to stay legal proceedings … may be filed in the Court, in which the legal proceedings are pending". Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED S. 3(2)---Foreign seated arbitration---Duty of Court---Defendant against whom a civil suit is filed with respect to a matter which is to be resolved with plaintiff through a foreign seated arbitration, such defendant has right to apply to the Court where such suit is pending for the proceedings to be stayed so that the disputes which are subject matter of the suit are resolved by the forum to which the parties had agreed---Where such application is filed, the Court is under an obligation to stay proceedings in the suit unless it finds that arbitration agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed. Citation Name: 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABADBookmark this Case ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED VS SAIF ENERGY LIMITED Ss. 3(2), 4 & 11---Foreign seated arbitration---Execution of award---Applicant company sought execution of awards announced by London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) against respondent company---Validity---Where international commercial contract contains agreement to resolve disputes by arbitration, at least three systems of national law are engaged when a dispute occurs---These are the laws governing substance of dispute; law governing the agreement to arbitrate; and law governing the arbitration process---Law governing substance of dispute is generally the law applicable to the contract from which the dispute has arisen---Law governing arbitration process (curial law) is generally law of the seat of arbitration, which is usually the place chosen for arbitration in the agreement---In the present case Letter Agreement provided for arbitration to be "at London" and by virtue of Art. 16.2 of London Court of International Arbitration Rules, 2020, the parties were deemed to have agreed for the seat of arbitration under Clause 4.3 of Farm out Agreement to be London---Curial law governing arbitration was English law and not Pakistani law---High Court recognized the awards and directed it to be executed in the same mode and manner as decrees---High Court directed respondent company to show compliance with the awards---Application was allowed accordingly.

ZAVER PETROLEUM CORPORATION (PVT.) LIMITED vs SAIF ENERGY LIMITED S — 2025 PLD 219 ISLAMABAD

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