M.KARPAGA VINAYAGAM, J. - (1.) THE petitioner has filed this application under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seeking for appointment of an Arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute existing between the petitioner and the respondents No. 1 and 2, namely, Bihar State Co -operative Marketing Union Ltd. and the Managing Director of the Bihar State Co -operative Marketing Union Ltd. with regard to the adjustment of the payment made by the petitioner as per the lease deed dated 23.11.2000.
(2.) THE case of the petitioner is as follows: (i) The Managing Director of Bihar State Co -operative Marketing Union Ltd. granted the lease of cold storage, namely, Janta Cold Storage to the petitioner for running the Cold Storage situated at Ratu in the district of Ranchi by virtue of the lease deed dated 23.11.2000 for the period of 11 years. (ii) Thereafter, the possession was given to the petitioner after payment of security amount etc. as per the agreement. The agreement dated 23.11.2000 was modified adding some more conditions through the another agreement dated 24.1.2001. (iii) The petitioner, on noticing that the cold storage was not in the running condition, approached the Nationalised Bank and obtained a loan for an amount of Rs. 70 lakh to establish the balance construction of cold storage for making it in a running condition interms of the agreement and as per the permission accorded by the respondent. (iv) The petitioner has paid the rent in terms of the agreement to the respondent No. 2 regularly. As a matter of fact no dues are outstanding. The payment has been made regularly in terms of the agreement dated 23.11.2000 and also the modified agreement dated 24.1.2001. Though, as per the agreement, 2/3rd employees of the respondent have to work in the cold storage, no body turned up. Therefore, the petitioner has engaged their own men. (v) Besides this, the respondents claimed the wages for their employees to the tune of Rs. 4.10 lakh besides the electrical bill. Claiming total amount of Rs. 13,69,405/ - as dues to be paid to the respondents by the petitioner, the respondents, suddenly, by a letter dated 22.12.2004 intimated to the petitioner canceling the lease deed even without serving any show cause notice. (vi) The petitioner has filed a representation on 29.5.2006 before the respondent No. 2 mentioning all the facts that no dues are outstanding. (vii) Without considering the entire facts, a further order has been passed by the respondents directing the petitioner to hand over the possession of cold storage to the Senior Range Officer at Ranchi on 3.11.2006. (viii) Even then, the matter was being discussed on 9.12.2006 and 11.12.2006 at the instance of the respondents. The petitioner made a payment of Rs. 4,00,000/ - by way of Demand Draft and a sum of Rs. 3,69,000/ - by way of post dated cheques. (ix) Despite this, steps were taken by the respondents to take over the possession of the cold storage from the petitioner. (x) On 15.11.2006, the petitioner sent a request to the respondents to refer the disputes to the sole Arbitrator, the Registrar of Co -operative Societies as per the terms of Clause 21 of the agreement. (xi) Despite the receipt of the same, there was no response. Hence, this application under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act praying for appointment of arbitrator for adjudication of the dispute existing between the parties. This Arbitration Application, filed on 19.1.2007 and the same was entertained by this Court on 23.2.2007 and notice ordered to the respondents.
(3.) DURING the pendency of this application, an application has been filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, bearing LA. No. 1437 of 2007, stating that the respondents locked their cold storage on 9.5.2007 and as such the petitioner is unable to run the cold storage and therefore, he prayed for interim relief through this application to direct the respondents to remove the lock of the cold storage and hand over the possession of the cold storage to the petitioner for running the cold storage pending the final disposal of this arbitration application.;