MANOJ KUMAR GOSWAMI Vs. P V SANGHAVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A challenge under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, to an arbitral award of the Indian Motion Pictures Distributors' Association having failed, an appeal has been filed.

(2.) The Appellant is an actor by profession. The Appellant has a brother by the name of Rajiv Kumar Goswami who, at the material time, resided with the Appellant and carried on business from the same address in the name and style of VIP Films Combines , the Third Respondent to these proceedings. By a letter dated 26th March 1991, the Third Respondent informed the Indian Motion Pictures Distributors' Association, the Second Respondent, that under an agreement of the same date, the Third Respondent had assigned distribution rights to the First Respondent in respect of a film by the name of Deshwasi in the territory of Bombay on a commission basis, for a period of five years from the date of the first release of the picture. By the letter, the Third Respondent requested the Second Respondent to register the Motion Picture in the name of the First Respondent. The Third Respondent by the aforesaid communication also agreed to submit any dispute or difference with the First Respondent as a distributor to arbitration by the Second Respondent. The arbitration clause was in the following terms :

(3.) An agreement was entered into on 30th March 1991 between the Third Respondent which was described as a proprietary concern and the First Respondent for the grant of distribution rights of the Motion Picture Deshwasi . The Appellant admittedly was not a party to the agreement.