BHANUCHANDRA J. DOSHI Vs. MOTILAL OSWAL SECURITIES LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioner, a constituent, has challenged under Section of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, (for short, "the Arbitration Act"), award dated 19 September 2009 passed by a panel of Arbitrators appointed under the Bye -laws, Rules and Regulations of National Stock Exchange of India Limited (for short, "Bye -laws of NSEIL"), whereby all his claims have been rejected on merits. The learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner, in view of the specific ground raised, apart from merit, that the award so passed was beyond the mandatory period of six months which is contrary to the Bye -laws of NSEIL, and as there is no provision for seeking extension after expiry period; such award is illegal and liable to be quashed and set aside. The learned counsel appearing for the Respondents, however, resisted this contention.

(2.) IN 2004, the parties entered into the relevant agreement. There is no dispute for the period upto 2007. In January 2008, in second week, the share market was quite volatile. On 16 January 2008, as alleged, the Respondent entered into the transaction. No information was given, but demanded security cheque of Rs. 5,00,000/ - on 21 January 2008, though they had share of Petitioner over Rs. 30,00,000/ - as security. The market was crashing. The Petitioner came to know about the transactions, as received notice first time on 25 January 2008. The Petitioner stopped the payment of cheques as dispute arose.

(3.) THE complaint/claim Petition was filed by the Petitioner on 28 July 2008 with the National Stock Exchange India Limited (for short, "NSEIL"). Respondent No. 1 only attended and not Respondent No. 2. They denied the claims. The Arbitration reference was filed on 10 December 2008. Written submissions filed by the Respondent on 24 December 2008. There is no serious dispute that the Petitioner received notice of appearance dated 16 December 2008, on 20 December 2008, thereby called upon the parties to appear before the Tribunal for hearing on 8 January 2009. The Petitioner has averred accordingly in additional affidavit dated 13 -14 February 2012, the same replied by the Respondents through their affidavit dated 29 February 2012. It appears that the Petitioner did visit the NSEIL on 8 January 2009 with pass entry No. 06777 Card No. M -73 at about 11.55 a.m. The notice is part of the affidavit. The relevant extract of notice dated 16 December 2008 issued by the NSEIL is as under: -