SHISHIR GUPTA Vs. AIR INDIA LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are the petitions filed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (in short the Act) against a common respondent i.e., Air India Ltd.

(2.) The respondent is resisting the appointment of arbitrator in the matter broadly on two grounds : First, that there is no dispute obtaining between the parties which, requires adjudication. Second, the arbitration agreement on which reliance is placed by the petitioners before this court is restricted to the 'interpretation' of that particular agreement, that is, the service agreement obtaining between the parties and thus, does not encompass within its ambit, disputes adverted to in these petitions.

(3.) Before I proceed further, it may be relevant to broadly sketch out the necessary facts relevant for adjudicating the captioned petitions :-