New Delhi, May 26 -- In an important judgement, The Calcutta High Court held that the present application under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, is not maintainable as the mandatory conciliation process under the MSMED Act, 2006, has not yet been concluded.

The court observed that while Section 9 does allow interim relief, it is available only to parties to an arbitration agreement.

In the absence of such an agreement, and with the conciliation process ongoing, the petitioner could not invoke this provision.

It emphasized that Section 77 of the Arbitration Act prohibits judicial proceedings during conciliation, except in exceptional circumstances-which did not apply here.

In a dispute involving a registered MSM...