16.Competence of arbitral tribunal to rule on its jurisdiction.—(1) The arbitral tribunal may rule
on its own jurisdiction, including rulingon any objections with respect to the existence or validity of the
arbitration agreement, and for that purpose,—
(a) an arbitration clause which forms part of a contract shall be treated as an agreement
independent of the other terms of thecontract; and
(b) a decision by the arbitral tribunal that the contract is null and void shall not entail ipso jure the
invalidity of the arbitration clause.
(2) A plea that the arbitral tribunal does not have jurisdiction shall be raised not later than the
submission of the statement of defence; however, a party shall not be precluded from raising such a plea merely because that he has appointed, or participated inthe appointment of, an arbitrator.
(3) A plea that the arbitral tribunal is exceeding the scope of its authority shall be raised as soon as the
matter alleged to be beyondthe scope of its authority is raised during the arbitral proceedings.
(4) The arbitral tribunal may, in either of the cases referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section (3),
admit a later plea if it considersthe delay justified.
(5) The arbitral tribunal shall decide on a plea referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) and,
where the arbitral tribunal takes adecision rejecting the plea, continue with the arbitral proceedings and
make an arbitral award.
(6) A party aggrieved by such an arbitral award may make an application for setting aside such an
arbitral award in accordance withsection 34.