YAMAHA MOTOR INDIA P LTD Vs. SEEMA BHATIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN the decision reported as 106(2003) DLT 708 (DB) ,Jindal Aromatic vs. South Coast Spices Exports Pvt. Ltd., on the subject of novation and accord and satisfaction, in para 23 it was opined as under:-

(2.) AFORESAID principle of law was culled out with reference to a dispute, as in the instant case, to the maintainability of a claim before an arbitrator and the party so wanting relying upon an arbitration clause between the parties in a contract, in relation to which there was a dispute between the parties; and to settle the dispute the parties had drawn up a subsequent written memorandum recording the terms of the settlement i.e. the accord. Later on, in relation to the terms of the settlement, there being a dispute, question arising whether the arbitration clause in the original contract subsists. If it did, the necessary corollary would be that the civil suit is not maintainable. It was in the said context that the Division Bench observed that it all depends upon the language of the accord. If the promise under the accord was received in satisfaction, it was a good satisfaction and any dispute relating to the satisfaction could not be litigated under the previous contract. But if the performance relating to the satisfaction was intended to be the satisfaction of the obligations under the original contract, a dispute pertaining to the performance relating to the satisfaction would be a dispute under the original contract.

(3.) IN paragraph 11 of the impugned decision, the learned Single Judge has reproduced the 10 clauses under part ,,B of the settlement and noting the same has concluded that the said document was not a mechanism to resolve the disputes pertaining to the Dealer Sale Agreement dated November 01, 1996, but was a new accord embodying a satisfaction of the dispute under the original Dealer Sale Agreement. It envisaged that a dispute pertaining to the performance of the satisfaction give a birth to a fresh cause of action, not under the Dealer Sale Agreement, but under the Settlement Agreement dated December 08, 2000.