TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (5) TMI 102
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....y this Court by consent on 23 November 2009. Consent Minutes signed by the parties and by their Advocates were tendered to the Court and in terms thereof, the Company Petition was disposed of. The Consent Minutes of the Order were to the following effect : "1) The Petition to be disposed of in terms of minutes as under: 2) That the Petitioner and Respondent have agreed to dispose of the dispute in the petition by arbitration by referring all claims and counterclaims between them to Arbitration as under. 3) The parties have agreed to appoint Zal Andhyarujina, Advocate, as sole Arbitrator, who shall endeavour to adjudicate the respective claims of the parties and shall pass an award within six months of his acceptance of appointment ....
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....uary 2011. The Applicant thereupon moved an Arbitration Application before the Learned Judge hearing Arbitration Applications. The Arbitration Application was withdrawn with liberty to take appropriate steps in accordance with law on 7 February 2012 before the Learned Single Judge. Accordingly, these proceedings have been instituted after a letter of invocation dated 8 February 2012. The letter was replied to on 7 March 2012, the defence being that once the period of arbitration proceedings came to an end on 7 September 2010, the Respondent refused to agree to any arbitration thereafter. 3. On behalf of the Applicant, it has been submitted that (i) In the consent Minutes of the Order, parties have agreed to refer disputes to arbitration.....
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....tled to seek arbitral proceedings; and (iii) The Applicant is responsible for the state of affairs that has taken place since it had failed to file its statement of claim before the sole Arbitrator by the date prescribed by consent. 5. The Consent Minutes of the Order which were placed before the Court in the Company Petition are in two parts. In clause (2), parties agreed that their disputes and differences would be referred to arbitration. In clause (3), parties stipulated that they had agreed to an appointment of a named Advocate as sole Arbitrator. Clause (3) indicates that the sole Arbitrator shall endeavour to adjudicate upon the claims of the parties and shall pass an award within six months from the date of his acceptance of the ....
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....would be an arbitration only before a named individual or that in his absence there would be no arbitration at all. On the contrary, Clause (2) of the Consent Minutes makes it abundantly clear that the parties agreed that their disputes would be referred to arbitration. Accepting the contention of the Respondent would be virtually to defeat the salutary provisions contained in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The Court would not accept such a state of affairs unless there is a clear and unambiguous intent on the part of the parties. In the present case, upon the termination of the mandate of the Arbitrator who was appointed under the Consent Minutes, the jurisdiction of the Court to make a fresh appointment can be invoked. As a m....