- (1.) Present petition is filed under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for appointment of an independent person as sole Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes/differences relating to the work of construction of 6 Nos. Link Road in District Panchkula, which was awarded to the petitioner vide letter dated 10.04.2008. It is common case that disputes have arisen out of the contract. It is also an admitted position that Clause 25-A of the general conditions of the contract contains an arbitration agreement and in the event of such disputes, as per the said clause, Chief Administrator of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board is competent to appoint the Arbitrator. As per the averments made in the petition, the petitioner had served notice dated 13.04.2011 calling upon the competent authority to appoint the Arbitrator in view of the claim of the petitioner mentioned in the said notice. It is stated that inspite of expiry of 30 days, no Arbitrator was appointed and there was no such appointment till the time the petitioner filed the present petition and, therefore, the respondents have now lost their right to appoint the Arbitrator.
(2.) In the reply filed by the respondents/Board, it is stated that notice dated 13.04.2011 was defective in as much as page 8 of the said notice as well as Annexures C1 to C19 thereof, as mentioned in the notice were missing. For this reason, memo No. 4824 dated 19.08.2011 was issued by the respondent No. 2 to the petitioner calling upon it to supply those documents. According to the respondents, there was no compliance of the aforesaid communication, as the aforesaid papers were not supplied and, therefore, on the basis of incomplete notice, the competent authority was not under any obligation to appoint the Arbitrator. Be that as it may, the respondents have still appointed the Arbitrator vide office order dated 19.04.2012 i.e. after filing of the present petition.
(3.) In the rejoinder filed by the petitioner to the aforesaid reply, it is stated that after the receipt of letter dated 19.08.2011, the petitioner had supplied the documents vide communication dated 25.08.2011, but even then, the Arbitrator was not appointed.;