Section 27, The Arbitration Act, 2022

(1) An arbitral tribunal may rule on its own jurisdiction,including objections with respect to the existence or validity of an arbitration agreement, for that purpose, an arbitration clause which forms part of a contract shall be treated as an agreement independent of the other terms of the contract and a decision by the arbitral tribunal that a contract is null and void shall not entail ipso jure the invalidity of the arbitration clause. (2) A plea that an arbitral tribunal - (a) does not have jurisdiction shall be raised not later than the submission of the statement of defence or response and a party is not precluded from raising such plea by the fact that he has appointed or participated in the appointment of an arbitrator; (b) is exceeding the scope of its authority shall be raised as soon as the matter alleged to be beyond the scope of its authority is raised during the arbitral proceedings, and the arbitral tribunal may, in either case, admit a later plea if it considers the delay justified. (3) The power of an arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction under subsection (1) includes the power to decide as to - (a) whether there is a valid arbitration agreement; (b) whether the tribunal is properly constituted; and (c) what matters have been submitted to arbitration in accordance with the arbitration agreement. (4) Where a dispute is submitted to arbitration in accordance with an arbitration agreement and a party - (a) makes a counter-claim arising out of the same dispute; or (b) relies on a claim arising out of that dispute for the purposes of a set-off, the arbitral tribunal has jurisdiction to decide on the counter-claim or the claim so relied on only to the extent that the subject matter of that counter- claim or that claim falls within the scope of the same arbitration agreement. PART VII - EMERGENCY ARBITRATOR, INTERIM MEASURES AND PRELIMINARY ORDERS