Sanjib Banerjee, J. - (1.) This is a request under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for the constitution of an arbitral tribunal to adjudicate upon the disputes said to have arisen between the parties.
(2.) The petitioner was awarded a contract relating to maintenance, repair and other work relating to the flexible power cables and control cables at the Haldia Dock Complex. It is the petitioner's case that the tender documents did not make the petitioner aware that there was an existing set of workmen already in the Haldia Dock Complex which would assert a right to be employed by any new contractor. The petitioner says that the petitioner had engaged the petitioner's own work-force but such work-force was not permitted to commence the work since the existing workers demanded that they be engaged for the work.
(3.) By a letter dated June 16, 2007 the petitioner wrote to the respondent informing it of the matter and pleading helplessness since the militant workers did not permit the petitioner to undertake the work contemplated by the contract. Subsequent correspondence was exchanged between the parties from which it appears that the respondent was completely insensitive to the problem that had been referred to by the petitioner. The stand of the respondent was that since it was the petitioner's obligation to discharge the work under the contract, the respondent was not concerned whether the respondent's dock complex was infested with militant workmen who did not allow the contractor to perform the work.;