INDIABULLS HOUSING FINANCE LTD Vs. SHIPRA ESTATE LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeals have been filed by M/s. Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. and M/s. Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. under Sec. 37(2)(b) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ('A&C Act' for short) impugning orders dtd. 11/6/2022 and 30/8/2022 made in three separate arbitral proceedings by the learned Sole Arbitrator. The respondents M/s. Shipra Estate Ltd., M/s. Shipra Hotels Ltd. and M/s Shipra Leasing Pvt. Ltd., are claimants before the (same) learned Arbitrator. The impugned orders have come to be passed by the learned Arbitrator on applications filed by the respondents under Sec. 17 of the A&C Act, whereby they had sought maintenance of status quo in relation to the securities provided by them against loans availed from appellant No.1, who (latter) is the 'secured creditor'. For sake of convenience, the particulars of the appeals being decided by this common judgment as also the respective impugned orders are tabulated below :

(2.) By way of impugned order dtd. 11/6/2022, made in the first set of applications under Sec. 17 of the A&C Act, the learned Arbitrator had set-aside Sale Notice dtd. 29/4/2022 issued by appellant No.1 under Sec. 13(4) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 ('SARFAESI Act' for short) read with Sec. 8(6) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 ('SARFAESI Rules' for short) seeking to enforce their 'security interest' in "Shipra Mall" situate at Plot No. 9, Vaibhav Khand, Indirapuram Scheme, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh ('Mall Asset' for short). Order dtd. 11/6/2022 became subject matter of an earlier round of proceedings before this court by way of Arb. Appeal (Comm.) Nos. 36/2022, 37/2022 and 38/2022, which were disposed-of vide order dtd. 8/7/2022. Those arbitration appeals have subsequently been sought to be revived by way of I.A. Nos. 14180/2022, 14179/2022, and 14181/2022. Since this court proposes to deal with all the appeals together, the applications are allowed; the appeals bearing Arb. Appeal (Comm.) Nos. 36/2022, 37/2022 and 38/2022 are taken on Board.

(3.) By way of impugned order dtd. 30/8/2022 made in subsequent applications under Sec. 17 of the A&C Act, which also sought to restrain petitioner No.1 from creating any third-party rights in the Mall Asset, the learned Arbitrator has clarified that his order dtd. 11/6/2022 " ..continues to apply", thereby again prohibiting enforcement of the security interest in the Mall Asset.