- (1.) In this application under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, as amended by Act 3 of 2016 (in short, "the Act of 1996") the petitioner has prayed for various orders against the respondent, including an order of injunction restraining the latter, from transferring or alienating or disposing of its properties mentioned at paragraph 55 of the application and from operating its two bank accounts maintained with ICICI Bank and Allahabad Bank without keeping apart an amount of Rs.11,73,01,152.35 till the disposal of the application. Before November 17, 2016 the name of the petitioner was Sova Ispat Ltd.
(2.) The petitioner and the respondent applied before the competent authority of the Central Government for allocation of captive coal block situate at Ardhagram, Bankura, West Bengal for usage of the coal extracted therefrom at their end-use plants. By a letter of allotment dated December 6, 2007, the Government of India, Ministry of Coal, allocated Ardhagram block in Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the said coal block") to the petitioner, as "the leader" and the respondent as "an associate". The said letter of allotment provided, inter alia, that the petitioner would carry out the mining operation under the mining lease and shall share the coal extracted at the said coal block between itself and the respondent at a price to be determined by the Government. On July 12, 2012 an agreement was entered into between the petitioner, the respondent and M/s. Eastern Coalfield Limited (hereinafter referred to as the said agreement dated July 12, 2012) providing, inter alia, that the mining of coal from the said coal block shall be carried out by the petitioner and the coal extracted by the petitioner from the coal block shall be shared between itself and the respondent at the ratio of 84.38% : 15.62% respectively. Clause A.11 of the said agreement specifically provided that the share of coal of the respondent shall be made available by the petitioner at a price to be determined by the Government (transfer price) from time to time, which shall be binding on all concerned. C.1 of the said agreement provided that the disputes between the petitioner and the respondent arising out of the agreement shall be resolved amicably by the parties and in the event of failure to reach an amicable settlement, the parties shall get the said disputes settled under the provision of the Act of 1996 or any other enactment replacing the said Act. After the execution of the said agreement dated July 12, 2012 the said coal block was handed over to the petitioner and it started the mining operation and the respondent continued to obtain supply of coal as per its allocation at the interim price of Rs.500 per MT. In a meeting held on December 07, 2012 by the committee set up by the Central Government for fixation of the transfer price, which was attended by both the petitioner as well as the respondent, it was decided that pending finalisation of the price, the petitioner was allowed to transfer coal to the respondent at Rs. 500/- per MT, as mutually agreed by them. By a letter dated December 7, 2012 addressed to the Additional Secretary (Coal), Ministry of Coal, Government of India, the respondent confirmed that until fixation of the transfer price by the Ministry of Coal they would obtain supply of coal from the petitioner at the mutually agreed rate of Rs. 500/-, per M.T.. In the said letter, the respondent also categorically stated that after fixation of the transfer price by the Ministry of Coal, the same shall be made applicable retrospectively. The respondent obtained supply of coal, extracted from the said coal block from the petitioner at the said rate of Rs.500/- MT. By an order dated September 24, 2014 passed in a writ petition, the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of 204 coal blocks by the Ministry of Coal, with effect from March 31, 2015. On December 15, 2014, the Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (Coal), Union of India held a meeting which was attended by the petitioner and the respondent for ascertaining the transfer price of coal, under the said agreement dated July 12, 2012. In the said meeting, the said committee after considering the contentions of the respective parties fixed the transfer price of coal under the said agreement dated July 12, 2012 by the petitioner to the respondent from the said coal block at Rs.1050 per MT since the date of production of coal at the said coal block. By a letter dated December 29, 2014, the Additional Secretary (Coal), Ministry of Coal, Government of India, forwarded the minutes of the said meeting held on December 15, 2014, regarding fixation of the transfer price of coal from the said coal block to the Managing Director of both the petitioner and the respondent, respectively. On January 14, 2015 a meeting was held between The Chief Manager of ECL and the representatives of the petitioner and the respondent, respectively and a copy of the minutes of the said meeting has been disclosed in the said application. In the said meeting both the parties herein confirmed to have attended the said meeting held under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary (Coal) as their officials attended the same. After the fixation of the transfer price by the said committee on December 15, 2014, the petitioner continued to supply coal to the respondent and raised invoices on the respondent on account of price of the coal supplied at the rate of Rs.1050 /- per MT. By a letter dated January 28, 2015, the respondent forwarded three cheques for a sum of Rs.30,65,948/- towards payment of the proforma invoices raised by the petitioner for supply of coal at the rate of Rs. 1050/- per MT. In the said letter, the respondent however, mentioned that it paid the said amount of Rs. 30,65,948/- under protest and reserve their right to take appropriate steps to ascertain the fair transfer price for obtaining supply of the coal extracted from the said coal block. With the expiry of March 31, 2015 the allotment of the said coal block stood cancelled and naturally, there was no scope for the petitioner supplying any further coal to the respondent.
(3.) According to the petitioner, although the respondent paid the price of coal supplied to it after December 15, 2014, at the transfer price fixed by the said committee, that is, at Rs.1050/- per MT but it refused to pay the arrear amount of the difference between the price fixed by the said committee at Rs.1050/- per MT and the tentative price paid at Rs.500/- per MT. The respondent also failed to pay Rs. 5,33,587/-, towards the loading service, to the petitioner. The petitioner claims that the respondent is liable to pay interest to it on account of the outstanding dues at the rate of 12%, per annum.;