Arbitration Case No.125 of 2009 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Arbitration Case No.125 of 2009 Date of Decision: 8.3.2010 M/s N.E.Finance Services ..Petitioner Versus ICICI Bank Ltd. and others ..Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MUKUL MUDGAL, CHIEF JUSTICE Present :- Mr. Anand Chibbar, Advocate and Mr. Lalit Thakur, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Rohit Suri, Advocate, for the respondents. *** MUKUL MUDGAL, C.J. (Oral) 1. 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 a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes between the parties. 2. Clause 8(b) of the agreement contains the Arbitration Clause which reads as under:- 8(b)(i) Any dispute,controversy or claims arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breech, termination or invalidity thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Arbitration & Conciliation Act. (ii) The dispute, controversy, or claims arising out of or in connection with the agreement shall be referred to two (2) arbitrators, one (1) to be appointed by each party and such arbitrators shall then appoint a third arbitrator. (iii) The place of arbitration shall be Mumbai and any award whether interim or final, shall be made, and shall Arbitration Case No.125 of 2009 [2] be deemed for all purposes between the parties to be made, in Mumbai. iv) xx xx xx v) xx xx xx vi) xx xx xx 3. During the course of arguments of this petition, learned counsel for the petitioner states that he has no objection for appointment of a single Arbitrator and the arbitration may be conducted at Chandigarh. 4. In this view of the matter and with the consent of learned counsel for the parties, Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.L.Bahri, a former Judge of this Court is appointed as a sole Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes between the parties. 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 27.05.2010 at 4.00 P.M. or on an agreed date convenient to the parties but not later than a fortnight from the date of exchange of pleadings as directed aforesaid. The Arbitrator shall render his award within six months from the date of first appearance of the parties. The Arbitrator shall fix his own fee. With the aforesaid observations, this petition stands disposed of. (MUKUL MUDGAL) CHIEF JUSTICE 08.03.2010 'ravinder'