SAHIL BROTHERS Vs. RELIANCE ENGINEERING ASSOCIATIONS PVT LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Parties in both the petitions are common. The respondent had awarded two contracts to the petitioner-firm herein for which work orders/agreements dated 14.05.2001 and 05.01.2002, respectively, were signed. The first contract dated 14.05.2001 was for trenching and duct laying on Amritsar-Zira route. The second agreement was for laying the optical fiber cable on Sangrur-Sunam route.

(2.) The disputes have arisen in respect of both the agreements, inasmuch as per the petitioner he has to recover certain amounts under both the contracts which are not paid by the respondents. Since both the contracts contain identical arbitration clause, these petitions are filed for appointment of Arbitrator in common set of circumstances. For sake of convenience, the facts from Arbitration Case No. 26 of 2009 are taken note of.

(3.) As pointed out above, both the parties in this case entered into an agreement dated 14.05.2001 for trenching and duct laying on AmritsarZira route. The petitioner started work on this project on 14.05.2001 and completed the same on 15.11.2001. The petitioner submits that payment of Rs. 2,52,100/- has been illegally withheld by the respondent even when the entire work is completed to the satisfaction of the respondent and entered in the measurement book. For making the payment of the aforesaid amount, the petitioner sent notice dated 29.07.2003 which was followed on 01.07.2004 calling upon the respondent to appoint the Arbitrator in terms of Clause 18 of the General Conditions of Contract which reads as under:-