HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA CHANDIGARH. *** Arbitration case No.43 of 2009. Date of Decision :January13, 2010. *** Puri Construction Ltd. Versus Ramji Lal and others. *** 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: Shri M.R.Shamshad, Advocate, for the petitioner. Shri Sanjay Vij, Advocate, for the respsondents. *** Mukul Mudgal, CJ (Oral) This petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for appointment of sole arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes between the parties. The arbitration clause reads as under:- ''30-All disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be resolved by mutual discussions between the owners and Developer within 15 days (fifteen) of the said dispute arising, failing which, such disputes shall be referred to conciliation in terms of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and any statutory modifications or reenactments thereof. If the conciliation proceedings fail to resolve the disputes, then the disputes will be referred for Arbitration to a mutually agreed Sole Arbitrator, being a 'retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India'. The award of the arbitrator will be a condition precedent to any action under this Agreement. This agreement shall be subject -2- Arb.43 of 2009. to the exclusive jurisdiction of Courts at Delhi to the specific exclusion of all other Courts and the venue for arbitration shall beat New Delhi alone. The arbitrator will be required to give a reasoned award within a period of 4 (four) months of entering the reference''. Though the Arbitration clause between the parties stipulates the appointment of a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India, however today the learned counsel for the parties stated at the bar that they are both agreeable that instead of a former Judge of Supreme Court of India, a retired judge of any High Court be appointed as a Sole Arbitrator to settle the disputes between the parties. In this view of the matter, I appoint Mr. Justice R.N.Aggarwal, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court (Retired), as a sole arbitrator in this case. In the meanwhile the parties will exchange the statements of claim and response thereof. The statement of claim be supplied to counsel for the respondents within four weeks and response to the statement of claim shall be supplied to the counsel for the petitioner within four weeks thereafter. The parties shall appear before the Arbitrator on 01.05.2010 or on an agreed date convenient to the parties but not later than a fortnight from 01.05.2010 after exchange of pleadings as directed aforesaid. The Arbitrator shall make an endaveour to dispose of the reference as early as possible preferably within a period of six months from the date of appearance of the parties before him. The Arbitrator shall fix his own fee. The sittings of the Arbitrator may be either at Delhi or at Gurgaon and /or at both places as found convenient by the arbitrator. With these directions, the petition stands disposed of. (Mukul Mudgal) January 13, 2010 Chief Justice Malik