INDO ENGINEERING WORKS Vs. RASHTRIYA ISPAT NIGAM LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The appellant had approached Andhra Pradesh Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council [In short 'Facilitation Council'] for arbitration with respect to an agreement entered into with the respondent herein. On the Facilitation Council taking up the matter, respondent filed a writ petition before the High Court, which was allowed by Annexure P-7 order, by a learned Single Judge.

(3.) The learned Single Judge found that the contract is a works contract and that the appellant had not filed a memorandum under Sec. 8 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 [Hereinafter referred to as 'the Act of 2006'], as has been held in Silpi Industries & Ors. v. Kerala State Road Transport Corporation & Anr.; (2021) 18 SCC 790. In an appeal by the appellant herein, a Division Bench of the High Court kept the matter in abeyance, finding that the ratio as laid down in Silpi Industries3 of filing a memorandum under Sec. 8 of the Act, with respect to Small Scale Industries, already registered as such, has been referred to a larger bench of three Judges.