RESHI CONSTRUCTION CO. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of two Arbitration Applications* arising out of the same contract.

(2.) THE instant petition filed under Section 11 of the Jammu & Kashmir Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1997 (for brevity, "the Act ") prays for referring the dispute between the parties to an independent arbitrator. Before embarking upon the legal issues, few facts may first be noticed. FACTS:

(3.) IT is patent that the appointment of the arbitrator has been made after the expiry of statutory period of 30 days and significantly after filing of instant application before this Court on 20.10.2010 when the notice had already been served. The appointing authority of the arbitrator is Engineer-in-Chief and the named arbitrator Sh. S.S.Bansal, Chief Engineer is directly subordinate to the Engineer-in-Chief because his ACRs are to be recorded by the Engineer-in-Chief. Legal Issues: