ADICON INFRASTRUCTURE PVT. LTD. Vs. DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Sec. 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 [The Act] seeks the intervention of the Court for constitution of an Arbitral Tribunal. The disputes emanate out of an agreement dtd. 18/10/2010 for the following work: -

(2.) According to the Petitioner, the work was successfully completed on 17/4/2012 and a communication to that effect also issued by the Executive Engineer on 3/8/2013. The Petitioner alleges that despite the above, the Respondent has failed to attend to the Final bill which had been submitted on 27/7/2013 and to release payments in respect thereof. It is the case of the Petitioner that after adjustment of payments received during the currency of the contract, the total amount which was claimed in terms of the Final Bill amounted to Rs.81,24,158.00 which was never paid. The Petitioner further asserts that the Respondent had always assured that payments would be duly made and that the claims raised were being examined. However, and ultimately since no further payments were released, the Petitioner by way of a notice dtd. 19/6/2020 invoked arbitration in terms of Clause 25 of the agreement. The instant petition thereafter came to be filed on or about 5/2/2022.

(3.) On 25/4/2022 while granting time to the Respondent to file a reply, the Court had further observed and taken on board the statement made on behalf of the Respondent Authority that there are certain clarifications required and in case the authorized representative of the Petitioner were to approach the Chief Engineer, Rohini, disputes could be resolved to a large extent. According to the Petitioner pursuant to the said order the Chief Engineer had in fact fixed a date for a meeting on 5/5/2022. The Petitioner is stated to have appeared before the said authority on that date. However, it is its case that since the dispute could not be resolved, the petition would have to be taken to its logical conclusion.