TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (1) TMI 1353
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ogy, Government of Haryana is the nodal agency for Geographic Information System ("GIS") Application and Remote Sensing for the Government of Haryana. The Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources designated HARSAC as the nodal agency for the State of Haryana. HARSAC invited Request for Proposal in September 2010 from qualified vendors for the modernisation of Land Record (including digitisation of cadastral Maps, Integration with records and management of old revenue documents). HARSAC vide Letter dated 28.02.2011 awarded the contract to the Respondent - Pan India Consultants Pvt. Ltd, and three other vendors for works specified in the allotment letter. In pursuance thereof, Service Level Agreements were executed between ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ing the entire project. Even though two extensions were granted till 31.07.2012, and later extended upto 31.12.2013, the Respondent failed to complete the work. This led to the invocation of the Performance Bank Guarantee by HARSAC vide letter dated 18.03.2014. 3. The Respondent challenged this action by filing Civil Suit bearing CS (OS) No. 886 of 2014 before the Delhi High Court. The High Court disposed of the Suit, directing the Respondent-Contractor to keep the bank guarantees alive, and HARSAC was directed not to encash the bank guarantees, pending resolution of the disputes amicably or by an arbitral tribunal constituted by the parties. 4. HARSAC invoked the arbitration clause contained in the Service Level Agreement, and appoi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....thin the statutory period of 1 year as prescribed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 or the extended period of 6 months, the mandate of the arbitral tribunal would stand terminated. 8. On 08.02.2019, Justice Rajive Bhalla (Retd.), one of the arbitrators, in a letter addressed to the Respondent stated that after arguments were concluded, the Award was in the process of preparation, when a letter dated 07.01.2019 was received from the Director Land Record, Haryana, Panchkula, stating that the mandate of the tribunal stood terminated. However, this letter did not make reference to the clarification sought by the Respondents regarding the fee of the tribunal. It was stated by the arbitrator that : " The tribunal is ready to pronounc....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... when the letter terminating the mandate of the tribunal was sent. The tribunal failed to pronounce the Award in a period of over 28 months from the date of constitution of the tribunal. 13. The learned Single Judge of the High Court passed an Interim Order dated 31.07.2020 wherein it was observed that since the period of 3 months granted by the District Court had already elapsed, both parties were directed to obtain instructions for grant of a period of 3 months on account of the prevailing Pandemic. The tribunal would conduct the proceedings either virtually or physically. 14. The Petition was heard on 24.08.2020, when the learned Additional Advocate General, Haryana opposed the extension of time. The High Court, in light of the current....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....p with the parties or counsel 5. The arbitrator is a manager, director or part of the management, or has a similar controlling influence, in an affiliate of one of the parties if the affiliate is directly involved in the matters in dispute in the arbitration." (emphasis supplied) Section 12(5) read with the Seventh Schedule is a mandatory and non-derogable provision of the Act. In the facts of the present case, the Principal Secretary to the Government of Haryana would be ineligible to be appointed as an arbitrator, since he would have a controlling influence on the Appellant Company being a nodal agency of the State. 18. The Counsel for both parties during the course of hearing have consented to the substitution of the existing trib....