IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Arb. Case No. 50 of 2010 Date of decision 6.4.2011 Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited ……petitioner Vs. M/s Bagadiya Brothers Pvt. Limited ……respondent CORAM: - HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA Present: - Mr. A.C. Jain and Ms. Aparna Jain, Advocates for the petitioner Mr. Mohit Garg, Advocate for respondent. Hemant Gupta, J Petitioner has sought appointment of an Arbitrator under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short the ‘Act’) in respect of the disputes arising out of an Agreement dated 10.6.2003. Vide the aforesaid Agreement, the petitioner entered into an Agreement with the respondent for export of Indian Wheat/Rice to foreign buyers. Since, the dispute arose between the parties, the petitioner sought appointment of an Arbitrator in terms of the Agreement dated 10.6.2003 (Annexures P-3 and P4). Relevant Clause of the Agreement reads as under: - Clause 25: - Any differences or disputes arising out of this agreement shall be resolved amicably failing same shall be resolved as per Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act. In reply, the stand of the respondent is that the Agreement was not executed in Chandigarh and respondent was having its office at Raipur in the State of Chattisgarh where the Agreement was executed. This Court has no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the present petition. Arb Case NO. 50 of 2010 I do not find any merit in the plea raised by the respondent that this Court has no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the petition. The wheat/rice to be exported was from the State of Punjab. The first line of the Agreement itself is to the effect that the agreement is being executed at Chandigarh. Therefore, this Court has the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the petition more so when the respondent has not produced any document or any other evidence that the Agreement was executed at Chattisgarh. Thus, the disputes between the parties are to be adjudicated upon in terms of the Arbitration Clause. Therefore, Hon’ble Mr. Justice N.K. Sud, (Retd.) resident of H. No. 233, Sector 16, Chandigarh is appointed as an Arbitrator. Learned Arbitrator shall be entitled to charge fee not exceeding Rs. 55000/- per hearing and in aggregate for not more than ten hearings and costs of Rs. 50,000/-. [HEMANT GUPTA] JUDGE 6.4.2011 preeti 2