Y.P. KHANNA Vs. N.P.S. BHANDARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Five petitions under Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ('Act') have been filed seeking enforcement of an arbitral Award dated 1st January 1999 as modified by the decision dated 1st August 2008 passed by the Division Bench ('DB') of this Court in FAO (OS) Nos.159-160 of 2002.

(2.) The background facts are that late Mr. D.C. Khanna had five sons and one daughter. The eldest son was late Mr. P.D. Khanna. He is represented by his sons, Mr. Ashok Khanna and Mr. Anil Khanna. For ease of reference, his group is referred to as Group A. The second son is Mr. L.R. Khanna, heading Group B, which consists of himself, his wife, Mrs. Asha Khanna and his sons, Mr. Vinod Khanna, Mr. Vimal Khanna and Mr. Virender Khanna. The third son was late Mr. Y.P. Khanna, heading Group C, which consists of his wife, late Pushpa Khanna and his two sons, Mr. Arun Khanna and Mr. Ajit Khanna. The fourth son was late Mr. O.P. Khanna, who earlier headed Group D, which is now headed by his wife, Mrs. Nita Khanna. This group consists of Mrs. Nita Khanna and her two sons, Mr. Ashwani Khanna and Mr. Ashish Khanna. The fifth son is Mr. Prem Khanna, who heads Group E which consists of his wife, Mrs. Renu Khanna and two sons, Mr. Pankaj Khanna and Mr. Praneet Khanna.

(3.) Following the death of late Mr. D.C. Khanna, disputes arose between the groups in respect of various properties which were either in the names of partnerships or companies incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, sole proprietorship firms or individuals. The groups decided that all the properties would be put into a common hotchpotch. An arbitration agreement was entered into on 4th September 1996 whereby "all disputes concerning and connected with all the aforesaid business, interest, amenities, benefits , rights of any of the party for present deed of agreement connected or concern with the aforesaid business, individually or otherwise" were agreed to be "settled by means of arbitration." A list of 17 properties was set out in the preamble of the arbitration agreement. The learned Arbitrator was to decide "all matters connected with and concerning the benefits, obligations, assets, liabilities of the persons, partnership firms, the proprietary concerns, or of any member of the board or shareholding of any company consisting the groups." Mr. N.P.S. Bhandari was appointed as the sole Arbitrator. It was agreed between the parties that the Award would be final and binding on all of them.