IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA REQ. CASE No.7 of 2010 Raj Kishore Prasad Sinha son of Late Raghunath Prasad Singh Finance officer, (under suspension), B.N. Mandal University, resident of Anandpuri, Bibiganj, North of RLY Pani Tanki,(Near S.K.Tent House), P.S. Muzaffarpur Sadar, Distt. Muzffarpur- 842001…………………………..Petitioner. Versus 1. The Chancellor Universities of Bihar, at Raj Bhawan, Patna 2. B.N. Mandal University through the Registrar, B.N.Mandal University, at Madhepura, P.O. Madhepura, Distt. Madhepura. 3. The Vice-Chancellor, B.N.Mandal University, Madhepura P.O. Distt. Madhepura 4. The Registrar, B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura P.O. Distt. Madhepura…………………….Opposite parties. For the petitioner : M/s Nand Kishore Singh and Shailendra Kumar, Advocates. For respondent no.1 : Mr. Shivendra Kishore, Advocate. For B.N. Mandal University : Mr. H.P. Singh, Advocate. ----------- 03/ 23.07.2010 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the Chancellor of the Universities of Bihar as well as learned counsel for B.N. Mandal University and its authorities. This petition has been filed by the petitioner for appointment of sole Arbitrator under section 11 (6) read with section 11 (4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act for the sake of brevity) due to failure of opposite parties to constitute Arbitral Tribunal in spite of the dispute raised by the petitioner stating that opposite party no.1 (the Chancellor of the Universities of Bihar) has rejected his request whereas the authorities of the University have remained silent. Although learned counsel for the respondents has 2 raised several points including the provision of section 2(4), section 7 (4)(C) as well as section 5 of the Act, but the fact remains that the Arbitration is sought on the basis of Arbitration Clause vide Article 20 of the Service Statutes of the Universities of Bihar which provided as follows: “Except in the case of inferior staff a dispute arising out of any service contract or otherwise between the University and an employee of the University, if not otherwise settled, shall on the request of any party of the dispute be referred to a tribunal or (sic for) Arbitration, consisting of one member nominated by the syndicate one member nominated by the employee concerned, and one umpire appointed by the Chancellor. Every such request under the provisions of this Article shall be deemed to be a submission to arbitration within the meaning of Arbitration Act and all the provisions of the aforesaid Act with exception of section 2 thereof shall apply accordingly. The decision of the Tribunal shall be final and suit no shall lie in respect of any of the matters decided by the Tribunal.” From the materials on record, it is quite apparent that petitioner was the finance officer of B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura and he was suspended on 26.02.2010 (Annexure-2) in contemplation of departmental proceeding due to several allegations of misconduct and indiscipline, etc. and only thereafter the instant request case has been filed on 14.05.2010. The aforesaid Article 20 of the University Statutes clearly provides that a dispute arising out of any service contract or otherwise between the University and an employee of the University, if not otherwise settled, shall on the request of any 3 party of the dispute be referred to a Tribunal. Here, the term used as “ If not otherwise settled” clearly denotes that if the dispute is going to be settled otherwise then the said Arbitration under Article 20 will not be applicable. Here, in the instant case a departmental proceeding is going to be started in which the petitioner as well as the authorities will be heard and the matter will be settled. Furthermore, Article 10 of the same Statutes clearly provides the principles governing suspension and departmental proceeding against the university servant which is a legal mode of settlement of the issues involved between the parties. In the said circumstances, the petitioner cannot take the help of Article 20 of the Statutes for raising a dispute and filing the instant request case. Accordingly, this request case is dismissed. harish/ ( S. N. Hussain, J. )