Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M.P. Road Development Corporation Ltd. ... vs M/S. Jabalpur Corridor (India) Pvt. ... on 7 October, 2016
Bench: Shiva Kirti Singh, R. Banumathi
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NOS.10152-10153 OF 2016
(Arising out of SLP(C) Nos.26684-26685 OF 2016)
M.P. ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Appellant(s)
LTD. AND ETC. ETC.
VERSUS
M/S. JABALPUR CORRIDOR (INDIA) PVT. Respondent(s)
LTD. AND ETC. ETC.
O R D E R
Leave granted.
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The impugned order dated 23.08.2016 is self explanatory and indicates the nature of orders passed earlier by way of interim arrangement in Arbitration Appeal no.23 of 2016 pending in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur.
Initially, an interim order was passed on 25.04.2016 directing the appellant to deposit 55% of the amount as awarded within four weeks' from that date and on that being done further recovery in pursuance of the amount awarded was to remain stayed. It was further directed that the amount so deposited shall be disbursed to the respondents on their Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by furnishing security to the satisfaction of the Trial court. SAPNA BISHT Date: 2016.10.17 16:47:02 IST Reason:
Since Interlocutory Application for review or reconsideration of the said order was filed bearing I.A.No.10394 of 2016, on 04.08.2016, pending the consideration of the said I.A., the High Court directed the appellant to positively deposit the amount as ordered vide order dated 25.04.2016 with the Registry of the Court. There is a further direction to keep the amount deposited in the Fixed Deposit in a Nationalised Bank and the I.A. was directed to be listed before the appropriate Bench.
I.A. was subsequently rejected and against that the appellants have come to this Court through the present petition. Another coordinate Bench of the High Court, incidentally on the same day when the I.A. was rejected, has initiated a contempt proceedings against the appellants. That order is also under challenge.
Having heard both the parties at some length, we are of the considered view that issue of interim arrangement during the pendency of the appeal should not detain us any further. There is some merit in the submission advanced on behalf of the appellants that non-deposit of the specified percentage of the award amount, at best, should have resulted in vacation of the interim stay and instead of adopting that course of action, the High Court should not have initiated a contempt proceeding. Since appeal is pending before the High Court, we are not persuaded to go into the details of all the submissions advanced before us. But in our view it would be in the interest of justice that a definite amount, Rs.65,00,00,000/- (Rupees Sixty Five Crores Only) out of the awarded amount be deposited with the Registry of the High Court. As prayed, appellants are allowed two weeks time for that. They shall make the deposit within two weeks' from today. Such amount shall be kept in a Fixed Deposit in a Nationalised Bank for a short period. This deposit shall be subject to the final outcome of the appeal. We are further of the view that the appeal itself should be heard expeditiously. Hence, we request the High Court to take up the hearing of the appeal and dispose of the same in accordance with the law at an early date preferably within two months. Needless to say that the contempt proceedings shall be treated as closed. The appeals are finally disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
.....…..............J. (SHIVA KIRTI SINGH) .....…..............J. (R. BANUMATHI) NEW DELHI;
OCTOBER 7, 2016.
ITEM NO.36 COURT NO.11 SECTION IVA
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).
26684-26685/2016
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 23/08/2016 in CONC No. 1508/2016 23/08/2016 in ARBA No. 23/2016 passed by the High Court of M.P. at Jabalpur) M.P. ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Petitioner(s) LTD. AND ETC. ETC.
VERSUS M/S. JABALPUR CORRIDOR (INDIA) PVT. Respondent(s) LTD. AND ETC. ETC.
(With appln. (s) for exemption from filing O.T. and interim relief and office report) Date : 07/10/2016 These petitions were called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHIVA KIRTI SINGH HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE R. BANUMATHI For Petitioner(s) Mr. P.S. Patwalia,ASG Mr. Shyam Dewan,Sr. Adv. Mr. Naman Nagrath,Sr. Adv. Mr. Mishra Saurabh,Adv. Mr. Ankit Lal,Adv.
Mr. Archit Upadhayay,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Kapil Sibal,Sr. Adv.
Mr. Vivek K. Tankha,Sr. Adv. Dr. A.M. Singhvi,Sr. Adv. Mr. Rishabh Sancheti,Adv. Mr. Aman Nandrajog,Adv. Mr. Sachin Pujari,Adv. Ms. Nikita,Adv.
For M/s. M. V. Kini & Associates UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The civil appeals are disposed of in terms of the signed order.
(SAPNA BISHT) (MADHU NARULA)
SR. P.A. COURT MASTER
(Signed order is placed on the file)