AJAY GHANSHYAM GOENKA Vs. KAMLA LANDMARC ENTERPRISES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are petitions under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The petitioners are purchasers of diferent units in a development being done by the respondents on CTS No. 255, and 255/1 to 23, on the Andheri Kurla Road, Taluka Andheri. The respondents are a partnership frm and its partners. In recent times, the respondents have gained a reputation only for considerable notoriety. One or more of its partners, in particular Jitendra Jain, have been jailed.

(2.) The contract in question pertained to the development of a structure on this plot. There is some controversy regarding the precise height of the proposed structure -- whether it was to be 10 floors or 16 -- but there is no dispute that what is constructed is a basement, stilts, and at least 10 floors.

(3.) The difculties start with the approach of the respondents. The one thing that seems not to have mattered to them at all is commercial integrity or any sort of fdelity to the law. Nothing else can explain how, despite having a commencement certifcate only to the fourth floor, they continued to construct to the tenth floor.