VIVEK KHANNA Vs. OYO APARTMENTS INVESTMENTS LLP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of present petition filed under Sec. 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter, 'the A&C Act'), the Petitioner assails the Award dtd. 31/3/2023 (hereafter, 'the impugned Award') passed by the Arbitral Tribunal (hereafter, 'the AT') comprising of Sole Arbitrator in arbitration titled as Vivek Khanna vs. Oyo Apartment Investment LLP.

(2.) The impugned Award came to be passed in the context of disputes that arose between the parties in respect of Lease Agreement dtd. 18/2/2019 (hereafter, 'the Agreement'). In terms of the Agreement, Petitioner had leased out his premises situated at Plot No. 80, Shakti Khand II, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad admeasuring 350 square meters (hereafter, 'the Demised Premises') to the Respondent for a term of 60 months, with a lock-in commitment of 36 months, during which period of 36 months, neither of the parties could terminate the lease. Even though, as per the lease deed, the lease commencement date was 20/2/2019, however the liability to pay rent arose from the rent commencement date, which was decided as 1/6/2019.

(3.) Commercial terms and conditions of the lease were contained in Schedule II of the Lease Agreement. Clause 10 of the said Schedule II casted an obligation on the Respondent to pay a minimum guaranteed amount of Rs.2,90,000.00 or Net Revenue Share, whichever is higher, payable every lease month w.e.f. 1/6/2019. 'Net Revenue Share' was defined as percentage of net revenue share calculated from the Gross Revenue share subject to deduction of withholding tax and other statutory dues as applicable from time to time. However, in terms of Clause 11 of Schedule II, for the first two months the Respondent was obliged to pay only 70% of the Net Revenue earned from the Demised Premises from the time the same was made 'live' on Respondent's portal, and was not obliged to pay the minimum guaranteed amount of Rs.2,90,000.00 mentioned above.