IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Arbitration Case No. 278 of 2006 Date of Decision: 03.02.2010 Jitender Pal Singh ..Petitioner Versus The General Manager (Works) ..Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MUKUL MUDGAL, CHIEF JUSTICE 1.Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. Whether to be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present :- Mr. R.M.Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Jagdish Marwaha, Advocate for the respondents. *** MUKUL MUDGAL, C.J. (Oral) This petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short ' the Act), for appointment of sole Arbitrator to adjudicate the disputes between the parties. Clause 32 of the agreement contains the Arbitration Clause which reads as under:- “32. (a) The provision of clauses 63 and 64 to the General conditions of Contract will be applicable only for settlement of claims of disputes between the parties for values less than or equal to 20% of the value of the contract and when the claims or disputes are of value more than 20% of the value of contract, provisions of Clauses 63 and 64 and other relevant clauses of the General Conditions of Contract will not be applicable and arbitration will not be a remedy for settlement of such disputes. Arbitration Case No. 278 of 2006 [2] b) The contractor shall not be entitled to ask for reference to arbitration before the completion of the work assigned to him under this contract. The contractor shall seek reference to arbitration to settle the disputes only once within the ambit of condition (a) above. c) These special conditions (a) & (b) shall prevail over existing clauses 63 and 64 of the General Conditions of Contract.” Relevant general condition No. 64(3)(a)(i) of the contract reads as follow:- “ In cases where the total value of all claims in question added together does not exceed Rs. 10,00,000/- (Rs. Ten lakhs only), the Arbitral Tribunal consist of a sole arbitrator who shall be either the General Manager or a Gazetted Officer of Railway not below the gate of JA grade nominated by the General Manager in that behalf. The sole Arbitrator shall be appointed within 60 days from the day when a written and valid demand for arbitration is received by Railway.” Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner failed to show any cause why the Arbitrator was not appointed pursuant to letter invoking arbitration clause issued on 21.3.2006. Even no reply to the petition has been filed. Accordingly, this petition is allowed and respondents are now directed to appoint the Arbitrator as per the above clause of the General Conditions not later than 28.02.2010. The parties shall appear before the Arbitrator on 15.03.2010. The Arbitrator shall make an endaveour to dispose of the reference not later than six months from the date of first appearance of the parties. Petition stands disposed of. (MUKUL MUDGAL) CHIEF JUSTICE 03.02.2010 'ravinder'