RIICO LTD Vs. MANOJ AJMERA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners have challenged the order passed by learned District Judge dated 6-11-2000 under Section 9 and 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 as nominee of the Chief Justice appointing Shri G. L. Goyal, retired Chief Engineer, PWD as the sole Arbitrator to decide the dispute between the petitioner and the respondent no. 1 in regard to execution of contract for commissioning of Water Supply Scheme at Matsya Industrial Area (South Extension), Alwar.

(2.) BONE of contention between the parties is that as per the agreement between the parties the work was to be commenced from 15-12-1997 and to be completed upto 25-6-1998. While according to the Contractor he could not complete the work because the RIICO did not fulfill many of the requirements in time. The RIICO has however contested the matter by asserting that the Contractor did not have adequate infrastructure and workforce of experts and thus failed to complete the work on time. The learned District Judge by its order dated 6-11-2000 allowed the application of the Contractor and appointed Shri G. L. Goyal, retired Chief Engineer, PWD as the sole Arbitrator with the direction to deliver the award within four months.

(3.) ACCORDING to learned counsel for the respondents, when the notice aforesaid was served by the Contractor on the RIICO on 14-1-2000, there was absolutely no basis for the petitioner to contend that the notice was not served within 12 months as required by clause 37 (d), supra.