Supreme Court - Daily Orders
The Board Of Trustees Of V.O. ... vs Psa Sical Terminal Ltd. South India ... on 31 March, 2015
Bench: Dipak Misra, Prafulla C. Pant
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3282 OF 2015
(Arising out of SLP (C) No.1526 of 2015)
The Board of Trustees of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust
Through its Chairman, Tuticorin … Appellant
versus
PSA SICAL Terminal Ltd.
South India House 36-40, Chennai … Respondent
O R D E R
Leave granted.
Heard Mr. Dhruv Mehta, learned senior counsel for the appellant and Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned senior counsel for the respondent.
The present appeal is directed against the order dated 19.09.2014 passed by the High Court of Madras at Madurai in CMA (MD) No.856 of 2014 whereby the Division Bench has directed stay of the demand with a further stipulation that the bank guarantees are to be kept alive. Be it noted, the Division Bench has not dealt with its jurisdiction to decide the appeal under Section 37 Signature Not Verified of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for brevity, 'the Digitally signed by Gulshan Kumar Arora Date: 2015.04.11 11:40:51 IST Act') arising out of an order passed by the Principal District Reason: Judge, Toothukudi on 18.07.2014 whereby it has opined that it has 2 no jurisdiction to entertain the application.
In course of hearing of this appeal, we have been apprised that the award passed by the arbitral tribunal is the subject matter of challenge under Section 34 of the Act in the High Court of Madras at Chennai. What we find from the impugned order is that the Madhurai Bench, while declining to deal with the jurisdictional facet, had made an interim arrangement.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we are of the considered opinion that the cause of justice would be best subserved if the Principal Bench of the High Court of Madras at Channai is requested to dispose of the objection to the award filed under Section 34 of the Act by the end of July 2015. Needless to say, all contentions are left open to be raised by the parties, for we have not expressed any opinion, including the jurisdictional facet of the Principal Bench of the High Court of Madras.
As an interim measure, we direct that the respondent shall deposit a sum of Rs.10,00,00,000/- (Rupees ten crores only) before the Registry of the High Court of Madras in connection with the case, i.e., O.P. No.389 of 2014. Needless to emphasise, the said deposit shall be subject to by the final decision to be rendered by the High Court, while dealing with the objections filed under Section 34 of the Act.
With the aforesaid modification in the order passed by the 3 High Court, the appeal stands disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.
................,J.
(Dipak Misra) ................,J.
(Prafulla C. Pant) New Delhi;
March 31, 2015.
4
ITEM NO.2 COURT NO.3 SECTION XII
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 1526/2015
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 19/09/2014 in CMA No. 856/2014 passed by the High Court Of Madras At Madurai) THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF V.O. CHIDAMBARANAR PORT TRUST THROGH IT'S CHAIRMAN, TUTICORIN Petitioner(s) VERSUS PSA SICAL TERMINAL LTD.
SOUTH INDIA HOUSE 36-40, CHENNAI Respondent(s) (For Final Disposal) Date : 31/03/2015 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAFULLA C. PANT For Petitioner(s) Mr. Dhruv Mehta, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Keshav Thakur, Adv.
Ms. Diksha Rai,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Zerick D., Adv.
Mr. Ananya Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Sneha Sethi, Adv.
Ms. A. Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Dheeraj Nair, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The appeal stands disposed of in terms of the signed order.
(Gulshan Kumar Arora) (H.S. Parasher)
Court Master Court Master
(Signed order is placed on the file)