Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently recalled its order of appointing retired Justice V.M. Kanade as sole arbitrator for settling a dispute between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and a private company for installation of water meters.
Pratibha Industries Ltd and the BMC had entered into an agreement on September 19, 2008, for supply, installation, and maintenance of automatic water meters of various sizes in the city.
The company filed an arbitration petition to restrain the civic body from encashing three bank guarantees. Its counsel said they are willing to go for arbitration and had suggested the name of Mr. Kanade as sole arbitrator.
On being instructed from the assistant engineer (meter workshop city, BMC), the counsel for the civic body also said they have no objection to the appointment. However, the BMC subsequently took out an application and mentioned that the agreement provided a ‘no arbitration is allowed’.
Justice K.R. Sriram said it is clear that the parties do not intend that their disputes be determined by arbitration. The court allowed the plea for recalling the order of appointment, and disposed of the petition.