Allahabad High Court
Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam ... vs Micro And Small Enterprisese And ... on 12 February, 2024
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:24411 Court No. - 1 Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 3552 of 2023 Petitioner :- Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited Respondent :- Micro And Small Enterprisese And Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Mukesh Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- Rohan Gupta Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J.
1. This is an application under Article 227 of the Constitution of India against the judgements and orders dated January 24, 2023 and January 31, 2023.
2. By the above orders, the learned Commercial Court below refused to entertain the prayer of the petitioner herein for payments of the pre-deposit by way of bank guarantee.
3. I have heard counsel appearing on behalf of the parties.
4. The petitioner is a Government company and Sri H.N. Singh, learned Senior Advocate submits that two months time may be granted to the petitioner to make the payment in two equal monthly installments.
5. Ms. Kriti Gupta, learned counsel led by Sri Rohan Gupta, counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents submits that the Supreme Court has allowed payments to be made in installments in case of Section 19 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006.
6. Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has placed reliance on the judgements of the Supreme Court in Gujrat State Disaster Management Authority Vs. ASKA Equipments Limited reported in (2022) 1 SCC 61 and in Triupati Steels Vs. Shubh Industrial Component and Another reported in (2022) 7 SCC 429, in support of his submission.
7. In the light of the above, I direct the petitioner to make payment of the pre-deposit of 75% of the arbitral award by way of two equal monthly installments firstly on March 1, 2024 and thereafter on April 1, 2024.
8. Accordingly, the impugned Judgements and orders dated January 24, 2023 and January 31, 2023 are quashed and set aside and the Court below is directed to hear the application under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, if the payment as directed above are made by the petitioner.
9. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of.
Order Date :- 12.2.2024 Dev/-
(Shekhar B. Saraf,J.)