Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Tata Communications Limited vs Aurora Engineering Company on 17 March, 2025
Author: Sanjay Kumar
Bench: Sanjay Kumar
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
ARBITRATION PETITION NO. 7/2024
TATA COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED ..... APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
AURORA ENGINEERING COMPANY & ANR. ..... RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
During the course of hearing, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 1, Aurora Engineering Company, drew our attention to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Arbitration Rules,1 enclosed as Annexure P-1 to the counter affidavit filed by it.
Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Tata Communications Limited, submitted that the rules have undergone a change. The new rules were adopted in 2013 and then in 2021.
Our attention was also drawn to Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 6 of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, 2021, which read as under:
“Designating and appointing authorities Article 6
1. Unless the parties hav0e already agreed on the choice of an appointing authority, a party may at any time propose the name or names of one or more institutions or persons, including Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court babita pandey Date: 2025.03.21 17:41:03 IST Reason: of Arbitration at The Hague (hereinafter 1 For short “UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules”.1
called the "PCA"), one of whom would serve as appointing authority.
2. If all parties have not agreed on the choice of an appointing authority within 30 days after a proposal made in accordance with paragraph 1 has been received by all other parties, any party may request the Secretary- General of the PCA to designate the appointing authority.” In the present case, there was no agreement on the choice of the appointing authority after the petitioner, Tata Communications Limited, issued notice dated 28.01.2021; hence, Clause 2 would be applicable. Accordingly, the petitioner, Tata Communications Limited, or any other party, would be required to request the learned Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration to designate an appointing authority.
During the course of hearing before us, it was submitted on behalf of respondent No. 2, FirePro Systems Limited, that the said respondent is not a signatory to the Short Form Procurement Agreement dated 23.03.2016. The petitioner, Tata Communications Limited, however, placed reliance upon two undertakings dated 28.03.2016, issued by respondent No. 2, FirePro Systems Limited. It was also submitted that respondent No. 1, Aurora Engineering Company, is a distribution agent of respondent No. 2, FirePro Systems Limited. As we are not deciding any issues, these questions are left open.
Recording the aforesaid, the arbitration petition filed under Section 11(6) read with Section 11(12)(a) of the Arbitration and 2 Conciliation Act, 1996, is disposed of.
Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
................CJI.
(SANJIV KHANNA) ..................J. (SANJAY KUMAR) ..................J. (JOYMALYA BAGCHI) NEW DELHI;
MARCH 17, 2025.
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ITEM NO.4 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W
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 Arbitration No. 7/2024
TATA COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
AURORA ENGINEERING COMPANY & ANR. Respondent(s)
Date : 17-03-2025 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JOYMALYA BAGCHI For Petitioner(s) Mr. Ratin Rai, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ketan Gaur, Adv.
Mr. Neil Chatterjee, Adv.
Ms. Aastha Kulshrestha, Adv.
Ms. Nidhisha Garg, Adv.
Ms. Ritka, Adv.
Mr. Jasmeet Singh, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Pranjit Bhattacharya, Adv.
Ms. Salonee Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Vaibhav Niti, AOR Mr. Shouryabrata Mandal, AOR Mr. Niraj Kishan Kaul, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Raghav Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Udit Sidhra, Adv.
Ms. Dhanya Setlur Krishnan, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Bindal, Adv.
Ms. Akshita Salampuria, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Batra, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel, the Court made the following O R D E R The arbitration petition is disposed of in terms of the signed order.
Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
(BABITA PANDEY) (R.S. NARAYANAN)
AR-CUM-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR
(Signed order is placed on the file) 4