ISSUE:
Whether an arbitration clause is void and unenforceable if the contract which contains the said clause is not stamped in accordance with the Stamp Act?
Whether allegations of wrongful invocation of a bank guarantee furnished in the said contract would be an arbitrable dispute?
RULE:
The Doctrine of Separability twinned along with the synonymous concept of Kompetenz-kompetenz, lies in the essence of the arbitration agreement itself.
The two principles dictate the arbitral tribunals authority in order to decide its jurisdiction irrespective of whether the legal instrument which contains the arbitration agreement is terminated or not. The doctrine of separability grants a material base while the kompetenz-kompetenz principle gives a procedural base to the tribunal.