Delhi High Court - Orders
Ambuj Hotel And Real Estate Pvt Ltd vs Ministry Of Raliways And Anr on 16 April, 2024
Author: Prathiba M. Singh
Bench: Prathiba M. Singh
$~2
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ ARB.P. 187/2024
AMBUJ HOTEL AND REAL ESTATE PVT LTD ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Rajshekhar Rao Sr. Adv. with
Mr. S.S. Sisodia, Mr. Saurav Kr.
Singh, Ms. Muskan Rawlley & Mr.
Moksh Kataria, Advs. (M:
7903611886)
versus
MINISTRY OF RALIWAYS AND ANR ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Ripu Daman Bhardwaj (CGSC)
Mr. Vineet Dhanda with Mr.
Kushagra Kumar, Adv. for R-1. (M:
9971580381)
Mr. Harshit Agarwal with Mr.
Aasheesh Gupta, Mr. Kamal Kumar,
Mr. Gyaltsen Barfungpa and Ms.
Charu Bansal, Advs. for R-2 (M:
9811026362)
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
ORDER
% 16.04.2024
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
2. This is a petition under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter, 'the Act') seeking appointment of an independent Arbitrator. The background of the petition is that the Petitioner was awarded with a Master License Agreement (hereinafter, 'MLA') for on board catering services in Kalka Shatabdi Express for a period of five years from 3rd February, 2014 to 2nd February, 2019. The license fee for This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/04/2024 at 21:33:30 providing the catering service was Rs.16.15 crores. Thereafter, the zonal railway delegated its power to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (hereinafter, 'IRCTC') - Respondent no. 2 to manage and supervise the services rendered by the licensee Petitioner and to this effect, a Tripartite Agreement got executed amongst Chief Commercial Manager Northern Railway.
3. The case of the Petitioner is that there was a further renewal clause, dated 12th December, 2019, and in accordance with the MLA, the License Fees was revised with an additional 10 percent amounting to Rs. 20,96,55,550/-. It is stated that the license terms were revised again after the renewal retroactively.
4. Thereafter, disputes arose in respect of the renewal and license fee that was to be paid. A notice for appointment of Arbitrator was issued on 19th September, 2023 in terms of the Tripartite agreement dated 26th July, 2017.
5. The matter was listed on 8th February, 2024. Notice was issued to the Union of India and the IRCTC. Mr. Harshit Agarwal, ld. Counsel appears for the IRCTC and Mr. Vineet Dhanda, ld. Counsel along with Mr. Kushagra Kumar, ld. Counsel appears for the Union of India.
6. On behalf of IRCTC, it is submitted that the initial MLA was executed on 16th May, 2014 contained a jurisdiction clause as also an arbitration/ dispute resolution clause. Thereafter, the Tripartite Agreement executed on 26th July, 2017 contained a further arbitration clause. While the arbitration clause in the Tripartite Agreement is silent with regard to the jurisdiction, the MLA mentions "Zonal Railway HQ" to be having exclusive jurisdiction for dispute resolution in all matters arising out of the MLA.
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/04/2024 at 21:33:30 Further, it is also submitted by ld. Counsel for IRCTC that invocation of arbitration was only in respect of IRCTC and not the Union of India
7. Mr. Rao, ld. Counsel for the Petitioner pointed out that the IRCTC's Zonal HQ is located in Delhi and the Tripartite Agreement had substituted the MLA.
8. The Court has considered the matter. The clauses in the MLA is as under:
"21.4 Jurisdiction This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India and the Courts at [*] (Zonal Railway HQ) shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all matters relating to this Agreement.
xxx xxx xxx
21.8 Notice
All notices under this Agreement by either party will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given if delivered by courier/registered AD Post. All notices under this Agreement are to be addressed as under:
In the case of Railway:
Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway Headquarter office, Baroda House, New Delhi-110001.
In the case of Licensee:
Mr. Parth Singh M/s. Ambuj Hotel & Real Estate (P) Ltd. D.58/9-A, Sigra, Varanasi.221010 Any change in the aforesaid address of either party shall be immediately informed to the other party by way of a notice as aforesaid."
The clauses in the Tripartite Agreement for dispute resolution is as under:
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/04/2024 at 21:33:31 "8.9 In case of any dispute the matter shall be referred for Arbitration to a Sole Arbitrator to be appointed as per Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1966 as amended from time to time."
9. A perusal of the above would show that this Court would have jurisdiction to appoint the Arbitrator considering that the IRCTC itself is based in Delhi, the Zonal Headquarters is in Delhi and Courts in Delhi also have jurisdiction.
10. Accordingly, Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh (Retd.), (M:
9431015011) is appointed as the sole Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes between the parties. The arbitration shall take place under the aegis of Delhi International Arbitration Centre (hereinafter, 'DIAC'). The fee of the ld. Sole Arbitrator shall be paid in terms of the Fourth Schedule of the Act as amended by DIAC Rules, 2023. Let a copy of the present order be emailed to Secretary, DIAC on email id- [email protected].
11. The petition is disposed of. All pending applications are accordingly disposed of.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.
APRIL 16, 2024 dj/bh This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/04/2024 at 21:33:31