Arun Kumar, J. - (1.) This is an application under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 praying for appointment of a sole arbitrator. The application has been placed before me as a nominee of the learned Chief Justice of India for necessary orders. The petitioner is a company incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands while the respondent is an Indian company. The parties had entered into an agreement regarding certain works to be executed by the petitioner. Disputes appeared to have arisen between the parties. The agreement between the parties admittedly contains an arbitration clause which runs as under:"23. Arbitration Any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to the Agreement its breach or interpretation thereof, shall be determined by reference to a sole Arbitrator to be in accordance with the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 and the Rules framed thereunder. The venue of the arbitration shall be at England (UK). The language to be used in the arbitration shall be the English language. This clause shall survive the expiration or termination of the Agreement."
(2.) ) As per the above agreement a sole arbitrator has to be appointed. Parties have been unable to agree as to who should be the sole arbitrator. This has led to the present application being filed for appointment of the sole arbitrator. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner drew my attention to the fact that the petitioner company is a company incorporated in Netherlands while the respondent Company is a Company incorporated in India. He prayed that in view of provisions of Sections 11(9) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, an arbitrator having a neutral nationality be appointed meaning thereby that the sole arbitrator should neither be a Dutch national nor be an Indian national. Section 11(9) is reproduced as under: "11 (9) In the case of appointment of sole or third arbitrator in an international commercial arbitration, the Chief Justice of India or the person or institution designated by him may appoint an arbitrator of a nationality other than the nationalities of the parties where the parties belong to different nationalities."
(3.) ) The key word in the above provision is may which leaves a discretion in the Chief Justice or his nominee in this behalf and it is not mandatory that sole arbitrator should be of a nationality other than the nationalities of the parties to the agreement.;