M/S. ADITYA BIRLA MONEY LIMITED (FORMERLY KNOWN AS M/S. APOLLO SINDHOORI CAPITAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED) Vs. MR. M. HUSSAIN AHMED AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. S. Shivathanu Mohan for M/s. Ramasubramaniam and Associates, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. P.M. Vijayakumar for Mr. S.S. Swaminathan for the respondent.

(2.) This petition has been filed under section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act to set aside the award passed by the panel of Arbitrators namely the respondents 2 to 4 herein insofar as it relates to the claim of the petitioner for Rs. 27,67,575.91p from the first respondent. It may not be necessary for the Court to go into the factual aspects of the matter as the claim made by the petitioner herein which in fact was a counter claim to the claim made by the first respondent, was thrown out on the ground of limitation.

(3.) It appears that the first respondent has not filed a separate petition under Section 34 of the Act to set aside that portion of the award rejecting the first respondent's claim petition on the ground of limitation. The first respondent is a constituent of the petitioner-Company which is a stock broker with The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and also a part of the National Stock Exchange Limited (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE) in both equity and derivative segments. As a result of disputes and differences between the parties, the first respondent namely the constituent of the petitioner approaches the NSE for initiation of arbitration proceedings with a claim of Rs. 47,66,544/- towards the loss incurred by him by the unwarranted squaring off his open positions on 21-01-2008 and 22-01-2008 and that he had provided three blank cheques to the petitioner herein on 21-01-2008 on being informed that there was margin shortage and the petitioner have gone ahead even before depositing the first respondent's cheques on 21-01-2008. The petitioner herein was arrayed as the respondent, has filed a reply denying the claim made by the first respondent and stating that the first respondent had insufficient margin to the extent of Rs. 4,24,381.74p on 21-01-2008 and this was increased to 18,43,329.29 on 22-01-2008.