HON’BLE Dr. JUSTICE G. YETHIRAJULU W.P.No.16066 of 1998 Dated this the 23rd day of January, 2008 Between: Surana Telecom Limited, Secunderabad, rep.by its Director T. Srinivas … Petitioner AND Dept. of Telecomunications, New Delhi, rep.by its Director General And 2 others … Respondents HON’BLE Dr. JUSTICE G. YETHIRAJULU W.P.No.16066 of 1998 ORDER: This Writ Petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to pay an amount of Rs.35,70,887/- to the petitioner, which was withheld in respect of the cable supplied under the agreement dated 11.12.1996 and consequently declare the withholding of the said amount as illegal and arbitrary. 2) It is not in dispute that after constitution of BSNL, the functions of the Department of Telecommunications stood vested in BSNL–MTNL. Though various grounds have been raised by the petitioner, assailing the impugned action, having regard to the fact that the dispute arises out of an arbitration agreement, which does not fall in the realm of public law remedy, instead of going into the merits of the case, I deem it appropriate to leave it open to the parties to work out the remedy of arbitration provided under respective agreements. 3) It is brought to my notice by the learned counsel for both the parties that in W.P.No.26807 of 1997, Sri Justice A.Gopala Rao, a retired Judge of this Court has been appointed as Arbitrator to resolve the dispute, which is similar to the present one. 4) Both the learned counsel reported no objection for appointment of the same Arbitrator for resolving the dispute covered by this writ petition. 5) Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of. Sri Justice A. Gopala Rao, a retired Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh is appointed as Arbitrator to consider and arbitrate upon all the disputes arising between the parties in this writ petition by following the procedure prescribed under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. No order as to costs. __________________ Dr.G. YETHIRAJULU, J Date: 23.01.2008 Isn