RAHUL JAIN Vs. ATUL JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Sec. 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 [hereinafter, "the Act"] has been filed by the petitioners for appointment of an arbitrator to adjudicate disputes arising between the parties under a "Memorandum of Family Settlement" dtd. 23/7/2016 [hereinafter, "MOFS"].[1]

(2.) The parties belong to the family of late Mr. R.C. Jain and Mrs. Asha Lata Jain, who is arrayed as respondent No. 5 in this petition. The petitioner No. 1- Mr. Rahul Jain is the younger of their two sons. The other petitioners are his wife, Mrs. Nipur Jain and two children, Aastha and Aviral, who is a minor. Other than Mrs. Asha Lata Jain, four persons have been arrayed as respondent'Mr. Atul Jain, brother of petitioner No. 1, his wife- Mrs. Meenakshi Jain and his children, Apoorv and Ananya. Mr. R.C. Jain and Mrs. Asha Lata Jain also have two daughters, Mrs. Alka Jain (who is not a party to these proceedings), and Mrs. Poonam Gupta (who has sought to intervene). For ease of reference, the parties will be referred to by their first names.

(3.) The MOFS is purportedly between three entities, being Atul's branch of the family (described therein as the "AJ Group")[2], Rahul's branch of the family (described therein as the "RJ Group")[3], and Asha Lata (described therein as "ALJ").[4] The description of the parties in the MOFS reads as follows: -