Interim payment of contractual rent may be directed pending arbitration when liability is prima facie established.

Under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, a court may grant interim protection by directing payment of contractual dues where liability is prima facie established. Here, the lease agreement fixed monthly rent for the relevant period and the respondent continued using the leased oxygen plants, so the stipulated rent was treated as payable pending arbitration. Disputed claims for maintenance expenses and alleged adjustments were left for the arbitral tribunal and could not defeat or postpone payment because they involved factual controversies and no clear basis for immediate set-off was shown. Interim relief therefore preserved the contractual position, subject to the arbitral outcome.

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Issues: (i) Whether, in a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the respondent could be directed to pay the contractual lease rent pending arbitration; (ii) whether the respondent's disputed claims for maintenance expenses and alleged adjustments could defeat or postpone payment of the stipulated rent.

Issue (i): Whether, in a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the respondent could be directed to pay the contractual lease rent pending arbitration.

Analysis: The lease agreement contained an admitted rent structure, with monthly rent fixed for the relevant period and the respondent continuing to use the leased oxygen plants. The contractual stipulation made payment of rent an express obligation, and the rent was the source from which the petitioner serviced its lender obligations and tax liabilities. In that setting, the Court treated the claim for payment of the stipulated rent as falling within the scope of interim protection under Section 9, drawing support from the principle that the court, in appropriate cases, may direct payment of admitted or apparently payable amounts pending arbitration.

Conclusion: The respondent was liable to pay the contractual lease rent pending arbitration, and interim payment could be directed under Section 9.

Issue (ii): Whether the respondent's disputed claims for maintenance expenses and alleged adjustments could defeat or postpone payment of the stipulated rent.

Analysis: The respondent relied on alleged maintenance expenditure and an asserted receivable from the petitioner to contend that rent could be adjusted or reduced. The Court found these matters to be disputed questions of fact requiring adjudication by the arbitral tribunal. The alleged maintenance liability was not a clear basis to deny rent payment, and the claimed receivable was not shown as an unequivocal admission capable of immediate set-off. Those disputes could not be finally decided in the Section 9 proceedings.

Conclusion: The respondent's disputed counter-claims did not displace the prima facie obligation to pay the contractual rent.

Final Conclusion: Interim relief was warranted to preserve the contractual position pending arbitration, and the respondent was directed to pay the arrears of lease rent to the lead lender bank, subject to the outcome of the arbitral proceedings.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, a court may direct payment of contractual dues pending arbitration where liability is prima facie established, but disputed counter-claims requiring factual adjudication cannot be used to avoid payment of the admitted or stipulated obligation.

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