B. N. Srikrishna, J. - (1.) This is an application under Section 11(6) read with Section 11(12) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) read with Paragraph 2 of the Appointment of Arbitrators by the Chief Justice of India Scheme, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Scheme) for appointment of a third/Presiding Arbitrator in accordance with an agreement dated 23-5-2001 between the parties. Under Section 3 of the Scheme, the Chief Justice of India has designated me as the person to pass appropriate orders on the applications and, hence, the applications have been placed before me.
(2.) Since the issue involved in all the three applications is same, these applications can be disposed of by a common order.
(3.) The petitioner in each of these applications is a joint venture of two constituents, who entered into a construction contract with the respondent - National Highways Authority of India (for short NHAI);